The Tokyo Housing Crisis - Paper Example

Introduction

Tokyo is one of the mega cities in Japan. It is the capital cities meaning it is the Centre of operation for the Japanese government. Most of the government offices are found in the city. The city has some very interesting although more about the city was brought to the limelight during The World Wars. Tokyo was initially known as Edo. Edo served as Japan's political center during the early 17th Century. For the longest time, Japan was known for its strong empires. They had very powerful emperors, and it is through the efforts of the then emperor that they were able to rename Edo to Tokyo. Apart from the common controversy surrounding Japan and Tokyo, it is also a common tourist attraction. It contains some very fascinating cites as well as cultures that in a way or another are a unique way of how Japanese live.

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It is through such issues that Japan can raise its foreign currency which comes in as government revenues. In addition to all these positive facts about Tokyo, it has some wanting controversies. It is one of the most populated cities in the world. In spite of its relatively small size, the city has over thirteen million occupants. This is to show that the majority of Japanese people are congested around the city. Overcrowding is a menace that us causing a lot of trouble in most world cities. Tokyo as well has not been left out. There is a developing housing crisis in Tokyo owing to a large number of people living in the city. Lack of enough hoses has caused some unpredicted problems in the entire city.

In any normal society, the housing system is supposed to go hand in hand with the growing population. Unfortunately, this is not the situation in Japan. The population keeps on growing day by day whereas the housing sector is still underdeveloped. Lack of proper housing has numerous problems not only in the affected society but to the government as well especially in the provision of services (Tiwar, 2000). It is important to note that the problem did not begin in a single day. It has been a crisis in the making owing to some negligence alongside other factors. One of the causes of the housing menace is the government policy on the construction of houses. This is to mean that there have been aspects of poor planning from the government. Responsible government agencies must come with reasonable plans on how the houses are to be built. It is unfortunate that the Japanese government took too long to discover that there was the need for proper planning. The predecessors of the current day regime did not do what it takes to curb the problem of housing. At first, the city looked as if it was big, but of late it has proved to be very small thanks to the ever rising population.

The unbalanced housing rates can also be considered as one of the key factors in the menace. There is a tendency in Tokyo where the majority of the houses are built just to favor the rich the society. This leaves the poor individuals with nowhere to live but to congest in some few available cheap houses. The very expensive are left vacant while people suffer due to lack of houses and homes. It is very unfortunate that even the first and second world countries have the same problems as the third world and underdeveloped countries. Underdeveloped countries are characterized by a scenario where the rich take everything for themselves leaving the poor for dead. This is the same problem in Tokyo. What is the essence of building this houses then if they are not to be occupied by these individuals? It is the high time that the government did something or else the poor will continue struggling. Apart from coming up with policies, the government has to go to the ground and experience the circumstances first hand. That way, it will be very possible as well as very easy to come with solutions to the menace.

When there are cases of overcrowding and housing, there are other numerous issues that are easily compromised. Service delivery is usually a big problem owing to the large population. The problem is even more serious when it comes to teaching in schools. There is a high number of students while the number of learning institutions is limited. It is unfortunate that while the population of students is increasing, the size of the institutions is constant. Majority of them have no room for expansion and hence have no remedy to the problem (Kenna & Malloy, 2016). Service delivery in hospitals has been a problem as well. The number of patients seeking medical attention is by far more than the number of patients. Japan is really in serious trouble and specifically Tokyo. The housing problem is bringing in more and more trouble. Lack of proper housing has caused poor sanitation. This is because the overcrowding brings a lot of people in a small area where the houses are affordable. Affordability of the house does not mean that other requirements of life in the likes of water are guaranteed.

In most cases, there is no water for the people to use and thus there is a likelihood for the spread of diseases. Poor sanitation and hygiene have more consequences as far as the health of the society is concerned. This is a problem that Tokyo has been struggling with and more need to be done to help the poor in the society.

Just as other major cities in the world, New York which is a city in the US is experiencing a crisis when it comes to housing. America is known for its staunch laws when it comes to housing and infrastructure policies (Greenberg, 2017). In the recent past, the laws have not been working especially in New York. In as much as the city is not as populated as Tokyo, the problems are just similar or even worse in some circumstances. It is unfortunate that every new day, many people are rendered homeless by the impending government laws. It is very frustrating that despite having several levels of governance some of them being the federal and state government. America is a first world country and for heaven's sake should not be experiencing these problems (Roy, 2011). To make matters worse, their housing problems appear all to be in another level. This is because unlike Tokyo where people squeeze themselves in the available houses, New York has many homeless individuals who end up spending their nights in the streets subjecting themselves and their children to the unforgiving cold. The state government of New York has developed some programs that help these homeless persons by providing them with short-term homes just for shelter. This has not helped much as still the number of homeless individuals increase day by day. In comparison to Tokyo, the situation is a bit better as the government is doing something to save its people.

The Chinese fraternity has not been spared from the mess as well. The city of Hong Kong which is found in the southern end of China is similar or more housing problems. In any normal society, the building of houses is accompanied by the building of some pipes that are either meant for tapping rainwater or for taking care of the sewage. However, it is very strange that the same pipes are used as residential areas by some people. It is a bit normal for an individual to spend a single night in or under the pipes but converting the region to a home is more of madness. This is the scenario that best describes the situation in the City of Hong Kong (McMillan, 2018). The cost of living is very high in that only a few can afford to rent houses. This to mean that only the rich can survive in the city. The rest are forced to find a means of surviving. Just as the scientific saying goes, it is survival for the fittest scenario. While other cities are struggling with a large population, the Hong Kong city is struggling with an elevated cost of living. It is upon the Chinese government to come up with ways in which they can solve the problem of housing. The best solution is to build cheap houses that can cater for the less privileged in the society.

Additionally, the street children need homes where they can settle. The situation in Hong Kong is not much different from that of the Japanese city of Tokyo. All that needs to be done is to build cheap houses that are accessible to all.

In spite of the magnitude, the housing crisis in Japan and Tokyo to be specific can be easily be solved when there is goodwill from the government and the people. The price of housing is generally low as compared to Hong Kong and New York as shown in the above graph (THE GLOBAL HOUSING WATCH, 2018). The government has to look for specialists who can help them in the coming up with procedures necessary for the decongesting of the city. Decongesting of the city should be the first step when it comes to solving the problem. One of the factors that have caused overcrowding in Tokyo is the search for job opportunities. This is because most of the state offices are within the city and thus people have to migrate into the city to look for jobs. Even after landing the jobs, they have to stick within the city so that they can make it to their respective places of work in time. To avoid all these, it is upon the state to move half of the offices to other towns. That way, people will tend to migrate towards the other city and thus decongesting Tokyo.

On the other hand, the government must look for a parcel of land and purchase it. The land should then be used for the construction of cheap houses. An affordable housing system has to be the priority of any functioning government. The government can intervene and subsidence the amount of money paid as house rates.

Conclusion

Present day governance has to focus on modern, decent and affordable housing. In as much as there are less or no slums in Tokyo does not mean that the houses there are in very pleasing condition. It is upon the responsible governments to ensure that the houses are suitable for all. In addition to other factors, the hygiene and health of those living in the congested areas have to be monitored even as the relocation and housing procedures are being undertaken. There is a high possibility of diseases breaking out in densely populated areas. The health professionals thus have to be very vigilant. The situation in Tokyo is manageable, and therefore it is upon the responsible parties to play their roles diligently.

References

Greenberg, M. (2017, August 17). Tenants Under Siege: Inside New York City's Housing Crisis. Retrieved from https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/tenants-under-siege-inside-new-york-city-housing-crisis/

Kenna, P., & Malloy, P. R. (2016). Contemporary Housing Issues in a Globalized World.

McMillan, A. F. (2018, June 1). Hong Kong's Housing Crisis. Retrieved from https://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/hong-kongs-housing-crisis /

Roy, F. (2011). Sustainable development of housing finance markets - An international perspective after the crisis. Balanced Growth, 57-74. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24653-1_5

THE GLOBAL HOUSING WATCH. (2018, May 1). House Prices Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.imf.org/external/research/housing/

Tiwar, P. (2000). Housing Demand in Tokyo. Retrieved from https://www.umac.mo/fba/irer/papers/past/vol3_pdf/065-092JP-2000.pdf