This book examines housing problems and housing policy through the lens of private rental housing management—specifically the so-called kuitsubushi-gata keiei (“eat-up” or subsistence-type management)—in the Tokyo metropolitan area (Tokyo and the surrounding three prefectures), focusing primarily on the period from the immediate post-war years through the 1970s. Its main conclusion is that this distinctive mode of housing management played a unique role in addressing housing problems while simultaneously obstructing the expansion of housing policy, with its effects persisting into the present.
 
Why, then, is it necessary to focus on kuitsubushi-gata keiei? To answer this question, the current state of Japanese housing policy must be briefly considered from a comparative international perspective. Historically as well as today, Japan’s housing policy—whether measured in terms of budgetary expenditures, public housing provision, or housing allowances—can scarcely be described as generous by international standards. Put simply, the question should be: Why has housing policy failed to expand? Previous studies have proposed a variety of explanations, including bureaucratic sectionalism, insufficient coordination among research institutions and academic disciplines, weak public support, and the structure of a company-centered society.
 
At the same time, however, I had long felt a certain dissatisfaction with these approaches. Having studied sociology in graduate school, I was influenced by the sociological practice of questioning what is ordinarily taken for granted. Accordingly, I reformulated the question. Rather than asking, “Why has housing policy not expanded?”, I instead asked, “Why has society been able to function without the expansion of housing policy?” This reformulation constitutes the originality of this book.
 
The answer advanced here may be characterized as a functionalist interpretation in the sociological sense. By “solving” the housing shortage, kuitsubushi-gata keiei functioned to suppress both the social problematization of housing issues and demands for policy intervention. In other words, it served as a functional substitute for housing policy. However, its effects extended beyond this role. The mass supply of inexpensive, low-quality wooden rental apartments hindered the establishment of policy standards concerning housing costs and quality. At the same time, it also impeded the formation of organized pressure groups among both tenants and landlords, thereby limiting the articulation and realization of policy demands. Clarifying these various functions constitutes the social and policy significance of this book.
 
Even today, Japan lacks an official policy benchmark for housing affordability. Nor can housing quality be said to be adequate; only recently was the minimum housing space standard abolished. The historical mechanisms through which housing problems were “resolved” continue to exert a latent influence on contemporary housing policy amid rising housing costs. The ideals of housing policy are undoubtedly important. Yet equally, if not more, important are the concrete social conditions that prevent such ideals from being realized. At present, there is little evidence of a substantial expansion in Japanese housing policy. Inequality and poverty remain unabated, while housing prices continue to increase. Therefore, examining kuitsubushi-gata keiei remains as significant as ever.
 

(Written by: SATO Kazuhiro / September 25, 2026)

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This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through the FY2025 Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (“Academic Books”).
 
Award:
The 6th UTokyo Jiritsu Award for Early Career Academics  (The University of Tokyo, 2025)
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ja/research/systems-data/n03_kankojosei.html