“…These features are particularly important in the Japanese context where the strict distinction between uchi (domestic, inside) and soto (public, outside), though contested, has been at the center of discourses of home and belonging (Ronald & Hirayama, 2009). Thus, the appearance of semi-public spaces in the context of shea-hausu can be associated with the dissolution of strict cultural norms (Kubota, 2009), but also with a shift in how domestic identities and materialities are being constructed (Meagher, 2017). Extant research into the experiences of sharing in different contexts, notably the UK and other English speaking countries, has illustrated the means by which co-residents typically negotiate relationships (Clark et al, 2017;Hilder et al, 2018) and form identities that help normalize shared housing, establishing feelings of, and attachment to, 'home' (Gorman-Murray, 2015;McNamara & Connell, 2007).…”