GIS result for "danchi fever"
When we were in Germany last month, I was disappointed to see that the Chermans were tearing down their supply of "commie block" danchi in the former East. But in first-world, hi-tech Japan the danchi lifestyle still holds a great deal of allure - indeed, more so than ever, as personal income keeps on truckin' downward.
Still, I was surprised when my wife told me last week that one of her employees had bought a danchi unit, and that a couple of others owned that. I said, what? Danchi units can be bought and sold just like condos? When she answered, of course, my inner Johnny Carson said, over ten years in Japan, and...I did not know that!
I dunno, I guess I just assumed that they were all either gov't-owned rental units or company housing. But apparently you can buy one for about five million yen, at least in the industrial wastes in Chiba, and while the thing might be made of tofu like those buildings in China, it beats shelling out ten times that amount for a depreciating asset like a mansion or a slap-dash J-house.
-catone
-my favorite danchi are the ones that have the big, 70s-style numbers painted down the side: People's Soylent Green Housing Unit #27 of 155! Anyone know of a danchi blog?
edit: corrected some pretty tortured syntax in the first sentence
