Young adults’ pathways into homeownership in Tokyo: Shifting practices and meanings

Abstract

This paper examines homeownership pathways of young adults in Tokyo, Japan, making use of an original data set of qualitative interviews. By analyzing the narratives of young adults, the article argues that in contemporary Tokyo homeownership pathways are diversifying, due to changing gender roles within households, intergenerational responsibilities and an increasingly questionable potential of homeownership to result in asset accumulation. Thus, while still following housing pathways that result in homeownership, young people are both adapting to the conditions of a practically failing but politically and ideologically resilient homeownership system and challenging its boundaries.

Vacancy Dwellings Spatial Distribution—The Determinants and Policy Implications in the City of Sapporo, Japan

“…In addition, the mobility of working locations in Japanese culture may discourage the employees from purchasing outright accommodation [23,110]. Thus, we argue that policy should subsidize finances for the young and stabilize their workplace, as discussed in the studies of Druta and Ronald [110] and Hirayama [111].…”

“…They prefer to be independent of their children and save for their retirement. The next generation, then, cannot buy housing due to the lack of finances, especially in and after the post-economic bubble collapse of the 1990s [110]. In addition, the mobility of working locations in Japanese culture may discourage the employees from purchasing outright accommodation [23,110].…”