The Changing Context of Middle-Class Housing in Japan's Major Cities

该研究项目的重点是城市中产阶级家庭住房条件的变化。战后日本的住房制度是以扩大自住住房为导向的，这与经济的蓬勃发展和政府加快自住住房建设的住房政策有关。然而，在过去的20年里，泡沫经济的兴起和衰落，社会的日益分裂，以及住房政策转向强调市场在提供和资助住房方面的作用，这些因素结合在一起，使中产阶级拥有住房的情况变得不稳定，特别是在大城市。研究项目对城市中产阶级家庭进行了问卷调查，并进行了统计调查，在城市住房所有权方面发现并显示了以下趋势：拥有一所住房过去能产生可观的资本收益，现在却产生大量的资本损失，特别是在二手公寓领域;不像婴儿潮一代，随着经济的高速发展，相对顺利地沿着住房阶梯向上爬，年轻一代是在后泡沫时期进入劳动力市场的，当时严重的长期衰退笼罩着整个国家，他们的住房和住房所有权前景现在非常不确定;公营房屋的房屋措施已转以市场为主导，这明显削弱了中产阶级自置居所的传统条件。

The focus of this research project is on transformations in the housing condition of urban middle-class households. The Japanese housing system in the post-war period has been oriented towards the expansion of home ownership, associated with vigorous economic development and the government's housing policy to accelerate the mass construction of owner-occupied housing. However, over the past two decades, the rise and fall of the bubble economy, the increased fragmentation of society and the shift of housing policy towards accentuating the role of the market in providing and financing housing have combined to destabilize the circumstances surrounding middle class home ownership particularly in major cities.The research project, thorough a questionnaire survey on urban middle class households as well as statistical surveys, has found and demonstrated the following trends in urban home ownership: owning a house, which used to produce considerable capital gains, now generates substantial capital losses particularly on the second-hand condominium sector; unlike the baby-boomer generation which climbed up the housing ladder relatively smoothly along with high-speed economic development, the young generation entered the labor force market during the post-bubble period when the serious, long-standing recession encompassed the country, and their prospects of housing and home ownership are now extraordinary uncertain; transformations in the public sector's housing measures towards an emphasis on market based housing provision have noticeable eroded the traditional condition of middle class home ownership.