SPACE

Living Space

Japanese people pay more money for less living space than people live in other countries. Especially if you are living in the city, you must pay huge amount of money for a tiny 1LDK apartment. For example, my friend was living by her self in an apartment in Philadelphia. The apartment was in a pretty nice area and she lived in a two LDKs apartment. She only paid $600 a month for the apartment while she was paying about $900 a month for much smaller apartment in Tokyo. Living in Japanese cities are very expensive and cramp.

Moreover, everything must be squeesed into a small space since the living spaces are very small. The word "rabbit hutch"seems to be the best definition to express the situation of Japanese houses in the city. It seems also true that a lot of Japanese people only go back to their house to sleep. Some peopole do work, hang out, relax, and much more things at home. However, people are more likely to go back to their house just to sleep.

Other Spaces

I strongly agree that the home for Japanese have much less meaning compare to Western people. In the U.S, almost all the collage students go back to see their family during the vacation even if the vacation is short. When I was staying with my host family for a year, my host brother who was softmore in college came back every single vacation even on the weekends even if he had to drive three hours for one way. My host mother and sisters were also very crazy about him comming back home. It was very supplizing and even too much for me at the time. But later I figured that it is not the strange scene to be seen in the U.S.

I don't fully agree with the author when he stated " the Japnese male enjoys a plurality of homes... the office, the favorite bar, the favorite coffee shop." I don't think those places will not be like home for them. Those places are certainly their favorites and the space where they can relax and be apart from their pressure of their life. Moreover, as it was mentioned in the reading "Frusato" is the term which expresses the meaning of home in Japanese.