Japan's lack of zoning regs

[jeffster]

1) The city had correct zoning which Google followed, neighbours asked it to changed, IIRC. I mean, that’s how I recall it. 

2) What sort of “problems”? Not that I study Japanese culture a lot, I do know a little bit. Any problem wouldn’t involve litter, stolen property, break-ins, etc. The problem I could see is crowded sidewalks, streets and transit. Tokyo has about 30M people living in it, which is almost like all of Canada in a very small space. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to live there either.

1) I was just trying to highlight the difference between here and Japan. The difference isn't that they can just build whatever they want anywhere, the difference is that if they meet the zoning regulations then the neighbors don't really have a say.

2) I just skimmed through their comments because I didn't really care that much, and I'm not saying that I believe their opinions are valid. The complaint I saw most often was that they felt there were too many factories in close proximity to housing (and this primarily becomes lower income housing because of that). I know you can find garbage incinerators all over in the middle of the city (I have no idea about the health/environmental effects of burning trash though, maybe it's fine). Another complaint that I am not phrasing quite as well as they did, was somewhat about a lack of cohesiveness, or a sort of chaos to it.

As I think about it though, I'd almost certainly rather live in Tokyo than Toronto (if we ignore work culture), so my feelings probably aren't based around a preference for our zoning over theirs. I'm just not much of a big city person.

Got it...that all makes perfect sense. There is chaos in that city, but again, it’s huge. I had no idea of the incinerators though. I am guessing they’re limited to what they can do with their garbage.