Tokyo has a similar trick where you're allowed a bigger floor-area-to-land-area ratio (which is the measurement that constrains how high you can build) if you put some public green space in front of … (View Post)

It's impossible to say how the system could have been designed without knowing what the requirements are. How does the data get into the database in the first place, what kind of maintenance does it … (View Post)

It's a shame there aren't better ways to communicate in traffic. Sometimes if I'm in the right-hand lane and I slow down for something I wish I had a little sign that could flip out from the left sid… (View Post)

In Japan we have Fixed Asset Tax which is 1.4% of the value of land and property (assessed according to a slightly mysterious formula). It's not much from the point of someone living in a house or ac… (View Post)

That would more-or-less align with the upper rate of income tax which seems sensible? (View Post)