In this reflection, you’ll hear from a delegate on lessons learned from the Tokyo Study Trip.

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By Aditi Nair

A travel exchange offers us generous lessons on how to overcome urban challenges. In my work with nonprofits that develop affordable housing, I often hear phrases like “The housing system is broken,” which leave us practitioners in a state of despair. In the United States, a severe affordable housing shortage is compounded by a racial wealth gap. In such an environment, my work as an urbanist focuses on centering lived experiences to inform planning processes. Yet in our study in Tokyo, I was struck by a very different approach – one driven by top-down policy – that has disrupted speculation, expanded housing supply, and reframed access to adequate housing as a right, rather than a privilege.

In Tokyo, we met with representatives from Urban Renaissance (UR), the semi-private administrative institution responsible for public housing projects in Tokyo. UR delivers approximately seven percent of Tokyo’s public housing needs. When asked how they gather community input into new projects and zoning changes, a UR representative responded, “We have pre-determined national zoning policies- so there is less scope for local government or public to influence zoning changes, or cause any delay.” 

As a resident of New York City, where unaffordability is skyrocketing and public review for zoning change can lengthen development timelines, this response left me perplexed. I wanted to understand how such streamlined processes could co-exist in a city of over 14 million people. 

Pre-pandemic, Tokyo added roughly 180,000 units every year,(1) compared to 60,000 units in the NYC Metro.(2) This abundance is facilitated by their National Zoning Act, which provides 12 standardized zone types, allowing greater flexibility and mixed-use development, with a limited community or public review process.(3)

With an aging population and a declining birthrate,(4) housing authorities such as UR are designing community well-being programs like community kitchens, gyms for seniors, and cafes in their housing development. An aging population, however, also raises questions about the mechanisms that support intergenerational wealth transfer. Yet, Japan’s succession laws are very cautious. After the speculative real estate bubble burst in the 1990s, Japan introduced a steep inheritance tax, in some cases reaching up to 55%, to curb international investments.(5) This tapered international investments into speculative real estate, indirectly increasing the supply of available homes.(6) 

Because of seismic shifts and building norms, buildings depreciate in economic value faster in Japan (6%) than in the U.S. (2%).(7) Rather than investing in repair, newer homes are built at a faster rate. As a result, between 2013 – 2018, 86% of housing sold in Tokyo was new homes, compared to 15% in New York City. 

The lessons from Tokyo’s planning – national zoning laws, streamlined public review processes, restrictions on speculative investments, and general acceptance of housing as a consumable rather than a permanent appreciating asset – offer very tangible strategies to boost housing supply. They lead us to a decommodified lens through which housing advocates can de-tangle the complex housing system, move away from despair, and redesign the system one step at a time.

Read more delegate reflections from Tokyo →

(1) Residential construction in Japan – statistics & facts,” Statista Research Department, May 16, 2025, https://www.statista.com/topics/12869/residential-construction-in-japan/#topicOverview
(2) NYC Metro 2020 Housing Production Snapshot, November 2021,” NYC Planning, November 2021, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/downloads/pdf/planning/regional/nyc-metro-housing-production-2020-snapshot-1121.pdf
(3) Karlinsky, Sarah, Paul Peninger, and Cristian Bevington. “Tokyo.” From Copenhagen to Tokyo: Learning from International Housing Delivery Systems. SPUR (San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association), 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep26071.8.
(4) As of 2023, over 29% of Japan’s population was 65+: “Japan’s ageing population: The implications for its economy” World Economic Forum, 2023. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/09/elderly-oldest-population-world-japan/
(5) Naoto Mikawa, Shohei Yasuda, Norifumi Yukutake, Does inheritance taxation reform promote to build inexpensive rental housing? Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Volume 68,2023,101255, ISSN 0889-1583
(6) Miyao, Takahiro. “Japan’s Urban Economy and Land Policy.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 513 (1991): 130–38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1047086.
(7) Yoshida, Jiro, “Land scarcity, high construction volume, and distinctive leases characterize Japan’s rental housing markets,” Brookings Institute, April 20 2021, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/japan-rental-housing-markets/