Japanese have long been famous for their love of high technology. Considering the high cost of real estate in Tokyo and the densely populated metropolis, many are forced to huddle in closets. One of these dwellings is an apartment with an area of 8 square meters, which fits everything you need for comfortable life. If only we were like this design solutions, then and in "Khrushchev" one could live happily ever after.

The width of the rooms in this apartment is so small that you can reach two walls with outstretched arms. Despite the tiny size of the room, there is both a kitchen area and a place to relax. The windows are located high, so during the day the apartment is full of light. The apartment even has a balcony, so there is a place to dry everyday things after washing.

Lovers of home-cooked food will have a hard time in such an apartment: there is only a sink, a drying rack for dishes that can only fit a couple of plates and cups, and a hob for one burner. For us, such a kitchen seems unacceptable, but in Japan in many apartments (even larger ones) the situation is similar. Most often, housewives adapt to cutting food by placing a cutting board above the sink. Although, to be fair, we note that tiny apartments are most often rented by factory workers who eat in canteens or buy ready-made food.

The bathroom is a designer find. The sink is designed in such a way that it can be rotated. When you need to take a shower, you just need to “turn over” the sink, placing it above the toilet, and there will be free space in the room.

The sleeping area is located on the “second” floor above the front door, accessible by a small staircase.

Renting such an apartment of 8 square meters costs about $600. By local standards, this is a very reasonable price to live in Tokyo. These apartments look modest, but tasteful. And our “Khrushchev buildings” are real apartments in comparison.

If you are thinking how, be sure to pay attention to our practical recommendations. After the renovation, the apartment will simply be unrecognizable!

Based on materials from livingbiginatinyhouse.com

The size of housing in Japan is measured in tatami. Tatami have a strictly defined area and shape. In Japan, the area of ​​rooms is traditionally measured in tatami (jo), which is taken into account when building a house. Tatami area - 90×180 cm (1.62 m²). The height of the mat is 5 cm. Sometimes there are tatami mats with half the traditional area - 90x90cm. Tatami, made in Tokyo and the eastern part of Japan, is slightly narrower than usual - 85x180 cm. I’ll try to calculate the size of the rooms in my spare time. Maybe someone can count it faster. Let me explain - the visualization is not mine. it is Japanese. The smallest apartments are 3-4 tatami in size, which is about six square meters. Usually such apartments do not even have a shower, but the price is very affordable, just right for poor students. A working Japanese can afford to rent a larger apartment: the standard for one person is 6 tatami mats (10 sq. meters), there is already a bathroom here, although the bathtub is sitting, but this is a Japanese tradition left over from ancient times. The kitchen is usually combined with the hallway - from the threshold and straight to the table. But the price for such an apartment will be low, only about 300-400 dollars a month,

and these are the apartments after living in the Japanese

JAPANESE BATHROOM

and this is a TOILET-SINK! solely for the purpose of mega-saving space, time and water. Sat, washed and washed away

who did not notice and was distracted by the remote control - the sink is on the tank on top, there is also a mixer)))

Here is a proletarian version of the same invention:

Don’t delude yourself too much about the toilet remote control. YES! it measures everything from temperature to blood sugar. But that's not the main point. The main thing is that the shell is right there on the tank, and that it is heated by pressing a button on remote control. That is, you just decided that it was time, pressed the button and went to the toilet. And he is already warm. And why? yes, because in Japan there is no Nuneta at all central heating. Gray as you wish. And in order not to accidentally freeze the most important things, these toilets were FORCED to be invented.

How people live in neighboring countries is interesting, if only for the sake of general development, and if you compare your own needs and capabilities, sometimes an unexpected picture emerges. What we see on screens in TV shows and series is not always true, especially if the filming was intended to be shown abroad.

It's no secret that the largest metropolis in the world, Tokyo, is one of the most densely populated places on earth. These are the conditions in which many city residents live.

The girl rented the most average apartment in terms of price-quality ratio, which had everything she needed. By the way, the Japanese majority has this standard of living and housing. Not only young people, but also older people are forced to live in such tiny apartments, since only wealthy citizens of the country can afford larger housing.

Miniature sizes start at front door to the apartment. I have to bend down so as not to hit my head on the door frame.

Near the entrance, there is a shelf of “kawaii” waiting for us - cute cute things and characters, with the help of which the owner Keiko tries to attract tenants to her apartment so that they can later leave her a good review.

Near the entrance there is a tiny “hallway”, actually a Genkan. Here you need to take off your street shoes and leave your wet umbrellas. The two of you can barely turn around on this spot.

The only window here is onto the street. Next to him is a double bed.

The space between the curtain and the bed can be considered a living room. Here you can relax and watch something. Actually, the low table is designed for people to sit around three people. Instead of chairs, there are pillows on the floor for this purpose.

Most decorative items hang on the walls so as not to take up precious floor space. The exception is a plant in a pot - it still stands on the floor. Greenery is an important part of Japanese interior design.

There is a bunny glued next to the switch. More kawaii.

In the corner of this room there is a totem pole - a refrigerator-microwave-electric kettle. Everything is very compact.

And the window behind the bed is a window for a reason! This is the exit to the balcony. Yes, the Japanese really love balconies, and even in such small apartments you can find them. Unfortunately, you have to climb onto the balcony through the bed - there is no room for normal passage.

The balcony is also miniature. There is a stick for drying clothes here (there can be no talk of any dryer in such an apartment).

View of neighbors' houses across the street. Here we see traditional Japanese inclined facades.

Great place for a selfie. Here you can see that half of the balcony is occupied by air conditioning.

And the indoor air conditioner unit is attached directly above the balcony door, again, so as not to waste space on trifles.

Let's go back to the corridor. Remember all those doors? What do you think is behind them?

That's right, there's a small closet here. Just for a minimalist who has no more than ten things.

But behind the next door is a whole kitchen hiding!

There is a sink, tiles, and a dish drainer. You can live! The kitchen closes with a door so as not to be an eyesore when it is not in use.

There is another door on the left side of the corridor.

It leads to a combined bathroom. In a tiny space, the size of a toilet in the first class of an airplane, a sink, bathtub and toilet manage to be crowded together

There is one faucet for the sink and bathtub; it can be directed as desired. Or you can immediately turn on the shower. Japanese economy again!

The toilet here is very ordinary - no technological miracles that can be found in many toilets in Japan.

Finishing touch. To save space, instead of a traditional router and a standard cable connection, Wi-Fi in the apartment is supplied through such a portable device connected to mobile internet. But you can take it with you and feel free to go for a walk around the districts of Tokyo - the battery will last for several hours, and the Internet is easier to navigate.

Apartments and houses in Japan are undoubtedly different from housing in other countries. Probably only those who do not have the Internet have not seen photographs of the famous Japanese toilets that resemble electric chairs, showers with plastic chairs and incredibly tiny kitchens. For me, in general, the topic of arranging an apartment, organizing space, and interior design is one of the most interesting, so I constantly look through photographs of homes from different parts of the world. When Japan flashed on the horizon and I realized that my love for this country was destined to undergo a practical test, I spent hours on YouTube, studying how foreigners who found themselves there lived, and mentally prepared myself to bang my head on doorways and walk sideways to the refrigerator: ) In reality, everything turned out to be not so scary. Almost. It depends where.

The very first apartment I found myself in in Japan was rented on airbnb. And despite the fact that I had seen her photographs in advance, upon crossing the threshold, the first thing I noticed was her compactness. There is no hallway that we are used to with benches, hooks and even, perhaps, wardrobes for outerwear. There is only genkan, the place where shoes are taken off, after passing (or rather stepping) through which you immediately find yourself in the hall. This is later, having lived in a couple of others Japanese apartments, I realized that our first apartment was very roomy, and having an almost separate kitchen was generally a luxury.

The only furniture in the room was a sofa (which turns into a bed), a coffee table, two floor chairs and a nightstand. There was no closet in this apartment, which, to put it mildly, caused some inconvenience. In the photo above on the wall you can see devices, one of which regulates the water temperature and allows you to draw a bath almost without leaving the couch, and the other is an intercom through which you can not only answer, but also see your guest.

From the living room we easily get to the kitchen. With ease, because there is only a plastic curtain separating them. The kitchen is very small by European standards, and even smaller by Russian standards (oh, where are those kitchen tables at which the most intimate conversations took place?)

As a rule, in Japanese kitchens the place where the stove is placed is located slightly below the sink. In addition, it is lined with a special protection made of thick foil, the patterns on which you can choose to suit your taste. There really is a lot to choose from, from simple ornaments to images of anime characters.

In this apartment we did not have a regular stationary gas or electric stove, but a mini version with changing gas cassettes. By the way, in Japan, a “ordinary” stove in our understanding is a rarity. As a rule, apartments are equipped with gas stoves for two burners with some semblance of an oven - a grill for one tiny fish. For pies and pizzas you already need to buy a separate electric oven.

The kitchen sink is basically a normal size, the only difference is that there is very little space on the side, and given that there is no other dedicated space in the kitchen for preparing ingredients, this is quite a big minus. Foreigners living in Japan get out as best they can - cover the sink with a board and cook on it, or buy additional cabinets if space in the kitchen allows. What also caught my attention was how carefully the Japanese take care of their things. In stores you can find all kinds of coasters, rags, nets, etc. for these purposes.

Also in Japan they treat with great care environment, and as a result - a rather intricate waste sorting system. If interested, I will make a separate post on this topic :) In our apartment, the landlady only asked to separate plastic bottles and banks, plastic packaging and food waste.

Due to lack of space in the kitchen, we have to make pyramids out of kitchen electronics. It’s good that in our case it was only three items. By the way, in the photo right next to the bananas there is a Japanese electric kettle. Its advantage over the usual one is that it not only boils water, but also keeps it hot as long as needed.

The bedroom in this apartment is located on the second floor, or to be more precise, in the loft, as the Japanese themselves call such a space. It seems to me that this is not entirely correct use given word, but the Japanese call a lot of things in their own way, which only they understand. For example, English word mansion, meaning a mansion, is used here as a synonym for the word "apartment".

As you probably know, traditionally the Japanese sleep on the floor on special mattresses - futons. At first I was worried that it would be uncomfortable, since the mattress is quite thin, but I didn’t feel any difference from the bed at all. Moreover, in London we had a terribly uncomfortable mattress, so sleeping on the floor turned out to be even more comfortable for me.

Through the window you can access a small terrace. We didn't use it at all, but I can imagine how cozy it is on summer evenings.

The view from the bedroom is quite unusual - you can see the entire apartment. It is obvious that initially it was an ordinary two-storey house, which was later converted into a more creative space.

Speaking of creativity, the owner clearly put her soul into this apartment, filling it with small but very nice details that made us feel at home from the very first day.

The toilet and bathroom are located on the ground floor.

Here it is, the star of many Japanese apartments, shops and offices - a heated toilet. I won’t sing its praises; in fact, there’s nothing supernatural about it, and it’s definitely not a vital thing. Of course, on a winter morning it’s much more pleasant to sit on this one than on a regular one, but I’m sure that after the first electricity bill, this problem will be immediately solved with fabric stickers on the seat, of which there are a dime a dozen in local stores.

On the toilet cistern there is a small sink and a faucet from which water flows every time you flush. The water is, of course, clean. This is convenient, since you can wash your hands without leaving the cash register, as they say. In addition, Japanese frugality is also evident here, because the water will be used for the next flush.

I want to warn you right away if you are going to Japan and your knowledge does not exceed the notorious konnichiwa And arigato Have Google Translate with you, I found it very useful when looking for the flush button in a Japanese airport toilet.

The toilet room is also equipped with a washbasin. This is the design I've seen most often. From an aesthetic point of view, I don’t like it, I don’t like keeping my cosmetics in sight, but from a practical point of view, it’s quite convenient.

The tap has two possible positions - pour in one continuous stream, or disjointly, like a shower. There is also a small cabinet underneath the washbasin.

Washing machines in Japan are loaded from the top, wash cold water, and do not have a drying function. In this apartment, the washing machine is located in a block with a bathroom and toilet, but quite often you can find a layout where a place is allocated for it on the balcony. And imagine the pleasure of doing laundry in winter. :)

For some mystical reason I didn't take a photo of the bathroom. But she was included in my video about this apartment. Also there I talk in more detail about the living room and show the terrace :)

Observing the way of life and encountering the everyday life of the Japanese, the average European, in addition to a smile on his face, constantly has surprise and joy. Everything is unusual, everything is not like ours, everywhere is a deviation from the norm! You can endlessly discover something new, sophisticated, and exotic.

How and in what apartments do ordinary Japanese people live? Why do Japan have the best toilets in the world? What are the features of everyday life?

Read about all this below.

The Land of the Rising Sun makes you fall in love with it from the first day. A colleague of mine quit his job at Lufthansa a few years ago to extend his three-week vacation in Japan. As a result, I traveled around the country for several months until the money ran out. Of the countries I have visited, Japan is now in first place in terms of interestingness. Let's talk about everything in order.

There is a misconception that it is the first city in the world in terms of population density. Actually this is not true. The population density, for example, is 3 times higher than Tokyo.

This is explained by the fact that Tokyo is located in a seismic zone, where on average 73 earthquakes occur per month, which is why it was built over a large area. If we continue the comparison with Paris, then the capital of Japan is 6-7 times larger in population, and 20 times larger in terms of city area.

Accommodation in Tokyo is absolute luxury.

The average Tokyo apartment occupies an area of ​​30 square meters.

This is what the room looked like in the apartment of a German-Japanese family, where I lived for several days.

Japanese intercom.

And this is a capsule in a capsule hotel. You can sit inside, there is a TV, radio, light bulb and ventilation.

If you're in Tokyo, be sure to try this type of accommodation, it's absolutely exotic for a European.

Accommodation is cheap. These capsules are located in such a hall.

By the way, in Tokyo people even live in Internet cafes. You can simply rent a room for 20 euros per day and live in a space of 2 square meters. In addition to a computer and the Internet, such places have a shower, vending machines, washing machines- for some it is very convenient. There are about 5,500 such Internet cafe residents in Tokyo.

Comfortable capsules are also available at the airport. Approximately 30 euros for 9 hours.

This is what another Tokyo apartment where I stayed looked like.

Let's move on to the bathroom.

Combined bathroom.

The Japanese also have multifunctional bathroom cabins - miracle technology with dedicated climate control. In this cabin the water is turned on to the floor.

The same cabin serves as a clothes drying cabin. Temperature setting.

Cute koalas on the curtains.

When talking about Japan, it is simply impossible not to mention their toilets. They are simply the best in the world: the smartest, most comfortable and convenient.

Electronic Japanese toilet with remote control. Above the tank there is a small sink where the water automatically turns on, so you can wash your hands.

Here you have heating, music, a washer system, and airflow. When you press the corresponding button, a tube comes out, from which a stream of water begins to flow under pressure. Sometimes the pressure and temperature can be adjusted. Simply fantastic! Moreover, such toilets are also found in public places.

There are toilets with automatic cleaning after each client, and others with paper backings.

They can be placed in different ways. Everyone decides for themselves what is right.

In the shop.

Japanese "tee".

Garages.

Public transport certainly belongs to the everyday life and everyday life of Tokyo residents.

And also catering establishments with plastic food at the entrance. About food has also already been published.

And endless shopping opportunities.

The epicenter of electronics shopping in Tokyo is Akihabara. One of the largest shopping areas in the world. The Japanese are simply crazy about slot machine games.

If I'm not confusing anything, this is a lottery kiosk.

At the post office.

I send postcards to readers, which can be received by simply subscribing to the email newsletter, where I talk about the behind-the-scenes of my trips.

Beautiful signs.

Water cans for stability.

Japanese traffic light.

Separate bins.

Crosswalk. You must stand and move on the right side of the crossing, despite the fact that cars are driving on the left.

Police and fire department vehicles.

Bench with armrests.

Barbershop or hair salon with a corresponding traditional flask (see also