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Tiny Luxury Apartment in Tokyo


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This is a tiny luxury apartment in Tokyo, Japan shown by Tokyo Lens/YouTube.

It’s a video tour of what is possibly Tokyo’s smallest luxury apartment. According to the video, it’s part of an initiative to develop more affordable housing in the area. What do you think?

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Tokyo’s Tiniest Luxury Apartment

This apartment is part of an initiative to develop more affordable living spaces in the area.

This is the entryway of the tiny apartment. It actually includes built-in vertical storage for your shoes. That’s nice!

The kitchen is super compact.

The bathroom is built in an interesting way that I happen to like.

There’s a very small toilet room with overhead storage.

And then there’s a separate wash room as the shower.

What are your thoughts on this bathroom configuration?

On to the other area of the apartment.

The living room and the loft space are here.

Mini-split air conditioner and windows to let some light in.

It’s a pretty spacious loft.

Tall ceilings in the living area.

VIDEO TOUR: Inside Tokyo’s Tiniest Luxury Apartment

What do you think? Could you see yourself living in a space like this?

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Our big thanks to James Diaz for sharing!🙏

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 15 comments… add one }
  • LargeMarge
    October 8, 2021, 8:37 am

    This works.
    .
    2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
    Our interior is three paces across by seven paces long.
    Three RedHeelers and two adults (plus a frequent yummy third).
    How?
    Most of our time is outside!

  • Debbie in Texas
    October 8, 2021, 11:18 am

    I WOULD LOSE MY MIND.

    • Kathy
      October 8, 2021, 7:08 pm

      OMG, as much as I love tiny homes on wheels at 20’x8.5’, I agree, I would soon be a maniac inside this space.

      • James D.
        October 9, 2021, 3:03 am

        And that’s only the tiniest for luxury apartments… You aught to see the tour of the low end $100 rent one…

  • Athena n'haLee
    October 8, 2021, 7:39 pm

    *Heh* Ask us US Navy vets if we can stand living in tiny spaces…… *wink*

  • Stephan of Arkansas
    October 8, 2021, 10:38 pm

    Interesting. With the right collapse-able table, a convertible chair or two, lots of art, and 3 or so wall-mounted lamps, it could work…. for the right young person whose legs/knees work well — unlike mine at age 72, as I would never make it to the loft or, if I got up there, I would never get down. The kitchen — oh good Lord — has no functioning workspace: one is either above the sink or above the one-eye burner. Just try making a combination salad or a sandwich in that kitchen. Now before parting …. a pet peeve: yes, I do understand that languages are continually morphing and evolving, as that is the nature of languages. (Did U ever try to read Chaucer in the original English?) But one expression that youngish Americans use often that I detest is “a ton of _____” when the _____ is something that can’t be weighed. The young host in the video happily refers to “a ton of light.” My neighbor the other day spoke of “a ton of effort.” Puhhhh-leeeze! For heaven’s sake, can’t you young folks find a better phrase? And, yes, you may mark me as a crotchety old part-time teacher of English language in Asia in my younger days. These comments are respectfully made. Stephan of Arkansas

    • James D.
      October 9, 2021, 2:41 am

      Better phrase? It’s just an idiom for a lot of something, used as a way to emphasize or exaggerate the amount… So what would you suggest fits that use better?

      Though, ton doesn’t just mean a weight… There’s actually multiple meanings it has depending on country and context of its use. Like colloquially used to refer to 100 of a given unit and thus examples like 100 MPH; unit of power; unit of volume; unit of energy, in refrigeration and air conditioning it’s used as a unit to measure the rate of heat absorption; in Dutch it indicate 100,000 and can refer to amount of money; in Finnish it’s a synonym for 1000… “The ton” was Britain’s high society during the late Regency and the reign of George IV, and later. Basically meaning good manners or style…

      So there can be other meanings people mean by using it, especially when including slang, etc usages…

      • Stephan of Arkansas
        October 9, 2021, 4:39 am

        Interesting information, James D. Thank you. What would I suggest? It seems to me that the phrase “a great deal of ___” or “a lot of ___” would be more descriptive than “a ton of ___.” But then at least “a ton of ___” is polite. In my part of the world I hear red-necks and other earthy types use the phrase “a whole s- -t load of ___”. Though that phrase is “colorful” most polite people think the phrase “s–t load” is crude. So with a free internet (at least in most countries) go ahead and use the phrase you think best. I wonder what other teachers of English language might have to say about that phrase. But this is a website dealing with tiny housing, so I suspect that most readers here really don’t give a flip. All good things to you and yours, James D. Stephan of Arkansas

  • Eric
    October 8, 2021, 11:17 pm

    O M G… I got claustrophobia just looking at it. Lord help anybody who is in any way obese in one of these.

    • James D.
      October 9, 2021, 3:00 am

      Well, the average size house in Japan is only 95 m² (~1,022 ft²). This compares to New Zealand, where the average house size is 205 m² (~2,207 ft²), while in America, the square footage for a typical home is 223 m² (2,400 ft²)… Mind, a lot has to do with what you’re used to…

      While only 3.6 percent of Japanese have a body mass index (BMI) over 30, which is the international standard for obesity, whereas 32 % of Americans do. A total of 66.5% of Americans have a BMI over 25, making them overweight, but only 24.7% of Japanese… In NZ, I believe the numbers are around 1 in 3 adults are over 30 for BMI…

      Japanese are also on average shorter by about two to three inches compared US and NZ… While culturally Japanese spend a lot more time outside of their home and instead use public areas for socializing, daily activities, etc.

  • Francine Rico
    October 9, 2021, 4:15 pm

    My claustrophobia would kill me. This is a coffin with a kitchen. It is incredibly sterile. Thank you, no.

  • Husabergchamp
    October 11, 2021, 9:12 pm

    I find it interesting that folks put up with living in such a space to have a job in a very crowded city environment. Do most who live like this spend a lot of time eating out and doing the bar/nightclub scene rather than be at “home”? Or are they students that spend most of the time at the university or library? Or at a friends place? This is not living for any extended period of time.
    I would rather join some friends and rent a much larger place so we can all stretch out some of the time when the others are away.

    • James D.
      October 12, 2021, 12:14 am

      In this case it’s a cultural difference where it isn’t a issue, because they are more in tune with nature and will spend as much time as possible outdoors.

      People in Japan, Hawaii and Norway are actually among the healthiest in the world because of this difference. In comparison, Americans, on average, spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations and thus develop health issues like obesity, which effects a larger percentage of the population.

      Overall, in Japan there’s more public arenas for socializing, leisure activities, hobbies, ceremonies that are especially important to Japanese culture, Buddhist concept of time, sports, shopping, etc… They have public bath houses, massive mall areas with ability to shop at any budget range, perform complex tea ceremonies, love Karaoke, do flower and other garden arrangements, etc. While also spending a lot of time at work…

      Though, in general, people in cities do make more use of public resources like gyms, restaurants, etc. Some buildings even have such resources as near as a different floor. There’s also easier access to public transportation that makes getting around easier and cities generally have more places you could go to like public libraries, stores, etc. and family, friends, etc. can be easily visited and even nearby… So even in places like NYC, how people live can be considerably different from the rest of the country or even just upstate where it’s more country side and more traditional housing…

      • Husabergchamp
        October 12, 2021, 1:56 pm

        I guess to each their own. I live in the country on 35 acres, have a 2250 sq ft home, and three small outbuildings. I need the space for my hobbies and my workshop, including MIG/TIG/gas welders, a motorcycle lift, and more tools than Fleet Farm has. I love building things including a nice pickup truck camper and I’m in the middle of building a small 12X18 cottage on the middle of the land as a getaway when things get hectic at the house. Solar powered and a composting toilet. 8 Miles of trails on the land for my atv and dirt bikes. So my living experiences are much different than a city dweller although I experienced all that when much younger while living in Milwaukee. BUT ……. I can understand how others want a more simple life and not be consumed by …… stuff. It is interesting how other societies live and are happy with their lot in life. Example the Japanese and how family is such a big deal. I wish we had more of that in the US, closest thing here are farm families all working together to keep everything moving forward. It’s all OK if people are happy with their circumstances. And yes, tiny homes do rock! Mine will be near a small pond, surrounded by evergreens, and I will have an amateur radio station inside it running off solar with a generator backup. WA9OLH.

        • James D.
          October 12, 2021, 5:59 pm

          Agree about families but there are people who are trying to change that with cooperative communities and pushing for solutions that allow families to stay together in even multi-generational arrangements.

          Like not only are ADU’s starting to become a viable option but also SDU’s (Secondary Dwelling Units) for those with enough property space to make use of that option to increase the number of housing units that can be there, as well as micro-communities/villages… Along with efforts to create developments that gives back to the area with communal areas, shared gardens, etc.

          They’re still few and far between, with still issues to resolve, but there’s a growing number of them and hopefully it’ll catch on…

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