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The story
A thread titled “You can flex just by living in Tokyo, so why don’t you all move there?” popped up on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo (Live News) board. Tokyo residents and people from the provinces went back and forth over livability, with posters throwing out land prices in central areas like Shinjuku and Ginza, plus homeownership rates, car ownership rates, and single-household rates in Toshima, Shibuya, and Minato wards. One poster’s defense—”I’m not living here to flex”—was met with the comeback “But that contradicts the thread title, doesn’t it?” Plenty of voices also questioned the appeal of Tokyo life altogether, citing sky-high rent, cramped housing, and safety concerns.
What people said
Like this
Wait, it actually exists? lol thanks
Small… like a prison cell?
Anyone who wants to live in Tokyo without even making 10 million yen a year is just an idiot.
No decent residential land
No decent parking
Not even decent road width
No decent living space
No girlfriend, no family, not young anymore
Don't drink, don't chase women, don't smoke either
Pathetic.
Hachioji: ¥100,000/m² 100m² = ¥10,000,000
Kokubunji: ¥200,000/m² 100m² = ¥20,000,000
Kichijoji: ¥400,000/m² 100m² = ¥40,000,000
Nakano: ¥800,000/m² 100m² = ¥80,000,000
Shinjuku: ¥2,000,000/m² 100m² = ¥200,000,000
Ginza: ¥10,000,000/m² 100m² = ¥1,000,000,000
Akiruno and Hachioji are actually cheaper than regional cities.
Wait, you actually live there? You can't flex with that.
But that contradicts the thread title, doesn't it?
If you're not here to flex, you can just disappear.
Hachioji's average benchmark land price = ¥190,000/m²
https://nova.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/livegalileo/1791535977/
🏠 Homeownership rate: approx. 36.2% — below the 23-ward average (roughly 40%), making it an area with very high rental demand.
🚗 Car ownership rate: approx. 18.9% — the second-lowest among Tokyo's 23 wards. Residents rely on public transit.
👤 Single-household rate: approx. 64.0% — over 60% of all households are single-person, among the highest rates in the 23 wards, second only to Shinjuku Ward and the like.
• Homeownership rate: approx. 36.5% (based on the Housing and Land Survey and recent municipal data; renters/leased housing)
• Car ownership rate: household ownership falls below the 23-ward average (approx. 29.7%), with per-capita/household ownership staying around just 19.3%.
• Single-household rate: very high — census data puts it at over 50% of all households (over 60% depending on the area or property)
Homeownership rate: approx. 39.6%
Car household ownership rate: approx. 45.7%,
Single-household rate: 56.9%.
Minato Ward's various data (approximate)
• Homeownership rate: 39.6% (based on the 2020 census; low even among Tokyo's 23 wards)
• Car ownership rate (passenger vehicle ownership): 45.7% (Tokyo ward-level data; higher than the 23-ward average of 29.7%)
• Single-household rate: 56.9% (share of single-person households among general households, 2020 census)
https://x.com/hayakore/status/2108492414596108382
That's not the point though, is it?
basically that of a high schooler biking to school (lol)
Background and Key Points of This Debate
This thread is one of the recurring “Tokyo flex” controversies that pop up on 5ch, following the typical pattern of posts looking down on the provinces because of central Tokyo residency, met with pushback. What stood out this time was that, beyond pure emotional arguments, multiple posters backed their points with concrete figures—land prices in Shinjuku and Ginza, and homeownership, car ownership, and single-household rates in Toshima, Shibuya, and Minato wards. That said, none of these figures came with cited sources within the thread, so they shouldn’t be taken as more than posters’ own claims. Some pointed out that areas east of Kichijoji within the 23 wards clearly have higher land prices than regional hub cities, while Akiruno and Hachioji are actually cheaper—highlighting the risk of lumping all of “Tokyo” together. In the end, posters never agreed on whether living there is about flexing or a rational lifestyle choice, and the debate stayed at a standoff.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo board) thread “You can flex just by living in Tokyo, so why don’t you all move there?“
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