No one lives near Shibuya

[Bucky]

[omae mona]

I guess it's not surprising that 14-year olds visiting Shibuya wouldn't be conscious of anything but the commercial area around Shibuya-eki, mostly within a 5-minute radius of the station. If they walked another 5 minutes in the right direction, they could easily find themselves in the midst of pure residential areas, a lot closer than Ikejiri-Ohashi, too. My memory is fuzzy, but I think I recall that even the Tokyo Governor's official residence is (or used to be) just a few minutes past the Tokyu/Bunkamura complex.

It's hard to find anywhere in Tokyo zoned for a single kind of use. Chances are if you start walking in one direction anywhere in Tokyo, you'll find retail space, houses, shrines, apartment buildings, factories, and soaplands within a few minutes of each other.

[Bucky]

It's hard to find anywhere in Tokyo zoned for a single kind of use.

Zoning? I think that is pretty much a foreign concept in Japan.

[omae mona]

Zoning? I think that is pretty much a foreign concept in Japan.

Nah, they have it. It would probably qualify as "Zoning Lite" in our home countries. But it exists.

http://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.jp/plan/pe-007.htm

(2) Special Use Zoning
Special use zoning complements regular use zoning. A total of 5 special use zoning types have been designated in the Tokyo Metropolis, including special industrial districts, educational districts, special business districts, entertainment/leisure districts and exclusive districts for medium and high-rise buildings. In addition, as a result of a partial amendment to the City Planning Law in May 1998, it has become possible to determine the zone type freely in a way that suits the actual condition of each area instead of determining the zone type beforehand based solely on law or regulations.

So I take back what I said about "hard to find anywhere designated for a single use". Probably obvious and easy to find, but they are few in number, I think.

[martindesu]

We don't zone in England.

[Tsuru]

We don't zone in England.

But I'm sure in England they have rules about where not to build incinerators and casinos?

[Greji]

Zoning? I think that is pretty much a foreign concept in Japan.

As Omae Mona says, it would indeed be Light weight on the industrial side, but surprisingly, it is pretty religiously enforced in the residential areas. The neighborhood organazations will sort you out in a minute if you try to bring something into the neighborhood that is outside of the zoning permits.

They will also use zoning in a attempts to block larger, or high buildings from being constructed in the neighborhood, which they can't stop by the "limiting sunshine rules".

[jingai]

As Omae Mona says, it would indeed be Light weight on the industrial side, but surprisingly, it is pretty religiously enforced in the residential areas. The neighborhood organazations will sort you out in a minute if you try to bring something into the neighborhood that is outside of the zoning permits.

They will also use zoning in a attempts to block larger, or high buildings from being constructed in the neighborhood, which they can't stop by the "limiting sunshine rules".

I had read that there is a zoning system but that zones can be so small as to be meaningless (one block zoned industrial, next commercial, etc). I certainly saw some frightening looking plants near parks and homes.

[IkemenTommy]

[omae mona]

So I guess they don't call it the Denentoshi Line anymore, huh?

A lot of people still don't seem to know that the Shin-Tamagawa Line segment from Shibuya to Futako-Tamagawa was renamed to the Denentoshi line in 2000. The part past Futako-Tamagawa was already called the Denentoshi line since long before that.

[halfnip]

As Omae Mona says, it would indeed be Light weight on the industrial side, but surprisingly, it is pretty religiously enforced in the residential areas. The neighborhood organazations will sort you out in a minute if you try to bring something into the neighborhood that is outside of the zoning permits.

They will also use zoning in a attempts to block larger, or high buildings from being constructed in the neighborhood, which they can't stop by the "limiting sunshine rules".

Yep, this is all over the news now: http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070801-00000931-san-soci

And all he wants to do is put up a HUGE house and paint it red and white.