Relation with Earthquakes

week7

     Hello!
     I will tell you about relation with earthquakes.
     Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, "a house to withstand earthquakes" is more strongly demanded, and, today, construction technique such as "earthquake resistant", "active vibration control", and "seismic base isolation" is generally known well. However, few people still understand the difference among them. Then, I will tell you about it.

     A building which is called "earthquake resistant construction" is one which suffer little damage from a tremor with an intensity of 4-5 on the Japanese seven-stage seismic scale and which do not collapse when a tremor with an intensity of more than 5 on the Japanese seven-stage seismic scale occur. "Earthquake resistant construction" have tough and solid structure section to withstand earthquake and suffer seismic energy to its entire building, so it do not collapse. But there is some danger of earthquake resistant construction's suffering serious damage indoors.
     "Active vibration control construction" is a structure which is equipped with some damping device such as a damper and so on and which absorbs the energy.
     "Seismic base isolation construction" absorbs a tremor of earthquake with seismic isolation device, and controls transmission of seismic energy to the top of the building. Compared with the seismic design, "active vibration control construction" reduces the strength of shaking during a major earthquake to 1/3-1/5, so "active vibration control construction" can suffer less damage but also to not only the building but also indoor. The rental housing do not have active vibration control construction because it costs much money to build it.

     As mentioned above, each how to withstand earthquakes is different. The most popular construction in Japan is "earthquake resistant construction" and "earthquake resistant construction" is used in about one hundred thirty thousand building per year now. On the other hand, now "seismic base isolation construction" attracts attention, but the number of it is still small and about two hundred fifty building per year. For example, Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building renewed recently  also has "seismic base isolation construction". Therefore, I tell you about "seismic base isolation construction" in detail.
   
      Every three structure is excellent in terms of preventing the destruction of the building itself, but only "seismic base isolation construction" has advantage of  "reducing the shaking in the building". The mechanism in "seismic base isolation construction" is that seismic isolation devices which are embedded in the foundations absorb the violent earthquake energy, turn into a gentle roll, and minimize the damage of furniture's falling and so on. It is said  that the tremor of seismic base isolation is one-third as large as that of earthquake resistant and active vibration control. Then, I will tell you about what is "seismic isolation devices". "Seismic isolation devices" are "laminated rubber" formed iron and rubber into a thing like mille-feuille and withstand pressure of up and down by many layers of rubber and steel and deform and restore flexibly for lateral vibration.

     The reason why seismic base isolation less prevail than earthquake resistant is that construction costs are higher and construction period is longer. However, it is said that a great earthquake such as "capital epicentral earthquake" and "Tokai earthquake" occur in Japan in the near future, so you have to take precautions against earthquakes at a little cost.

Mansyon and Apart

week6

     Hello!
     I will tell you about mansyon and apart in Japanese.
     Both mansyon and apart in Japanese are apartments in English. Then, what is the difference between mansyon and apart in Japanese? Is there a definition of the defference between mansyon and apart in Japanese? Few people know this, so I look into the difference between mansyon and apart in Japanese in detail.
     In conclusion, the clear definition between mansyon and apart in Japanese do not exist, so if a real estate agent thinks a building as mansyon, the building is mansyon, and if a real estate agent thinks a building as apart, the building is apart. In short, different real estate agents have different ideas of what the difference between mansyon and apart in Japanese are. However, generally speaking, a quasi-fireproof and low-rise property of wooden frame and lightweight steel frame is called apart, and fireproof multifamily housing of steel-reinforced concrete and reinforced concrete is called mansyon.

     I summarized the each feature of mansyon and apart in Japanese.

■What is mansyon in Japanese?
・Fireproof structure of reinforced concrete and steel-reinforced concrete
・Being able to build high-rise housing
・High sound insulation
・High-grade sense
・Rents of the expense of mansyon are higher than that of apart because it cost more money to built mansyon than apart.
・Administrative costs of mansyon are higher than that of apart because in many cases mansyon is equipped with elevators and a caretaker is in mansyon.

■What is apart in Japanese?
・Semi-fireproof structure of wooden frame or lightweight steel frame
・Most of apart in Japanese are two-storied building.
・it is impossible to build high-rise building because its structure is weak.
・Rents of the expense of apart are cheaper than that of mansyon because it cost less money to built apart than mansyon.
・Administrative costs of apart are cheaper than that of mansyon because in many cases apart is equipped with no elevator and a caretaker is not in apart.


      Then, in the above, what is the biggest difference between mansyon and apart when you live every day?  It is "how you hear the sound". It is apart that it is easy to hear the sound of neighbor and the upper and lower floors. Even if apart have structure of lightweight steel frame, walls and floors are the same as wooden, so perhaps it is easy to hear the sounds. Compared to apart, mansyon has tough structure, so mansyon has high sound insulation. But even if mansyon has thick walls, mansyon sometimes do not have concrete walls. Why then, please be careful. When thinking about the above, mansyon is clearly better than apart. However, apart also has advantages. One of them is the price. Moreover, in case of mansyon, concrete contain the moisture, so it is easy to condense, and mansyon tend to accumulate the moisture because of the height of the confidentiality. But in case of apart, apart has moderate breathable, so you do not worry about the moisture of building itself.

     In short, mansyon and apart in Japanese have each of advantages and disadvantages. I want to be useful for you when you select mansyon or apart.

Expense

week5

     Hello!
     I will tell you about the expense of Japanese houses.
     When you are planning to build your house, you are worrying about the expense to build your house the best. So, I looked into the expense of construction of Japanese houses.
     The expense to build housing can be roughly divided into three, and it is main body construction expenses, expenses of incidental construction, and other expenses. Many people misunderstand that the expense to build housing is the product of price per unit of area in only main body construction expenses, but main body construction expenses account for about seventy-eighty percent of the entire budget of residential construction. Expenses of incidental construction are the expense to make outdoor and site of the house and the expense for decoration such as interior. Expenses of incidental construction account for about fifteen-thirty percent of the entire budget of residential construction. Other expenses are the expense other than the house itself what is called indirect expenses. Other expenses account for about five- thirty percent of the entire budget of residential construction. In addition, if you change the design for the house and extend the progress of the work, it costs you much money to build your house. Of course, when owner visits the site of construction, you have to add transportation expenses to budget.
     Next, I tell you about some of the detail progress of the work. Temporary works is the work not to remain as a form after completing the house such as scaffolding and sheets in order to work safely, temporary electricity, temporary water, temporary toilets, and cleaning up. The expense of these account for about two- five percent of the entire budget of residential construction, but the quality of temporary plan greatly affects the subsequent steps and neighborhood relations. If you build a wooden house, the most important work is a woodwork. A woodwork is that carpenters make residential wood frame. The expense for a woodwork changes depending on the degree of the material used and the size of the house. As a general guideline, the expense for a woodwork account for about three-forty percent of the entire budget of residential construction. Painting works are the work to finish surface by painting the inside and outside of the house. The outer wall, iron stairs, and railing of balcony outside and wood parts such as the fittings and skirting is painted. In general, the coating unit price includes preparing the ground element, undercoat, and finish coat. Painting process is different depending on the matrix material and the type of paint. Interior works are the contents of the internal finishing of the house except those recorded at other work such as woodwork, roof, tile, and plastering. In short, interior works are finish works of the wall, floor, and ceiling inside the house. Equipment works are divided into water supply and drainage and sanitation works and electrical equipment construction works. Equipment is the remarkable price difference due to the difference function, design and grade, so you have to understand each of the characteristics and select the device that suits your purpose.

Recent Japanese Houses

week4

     Hello!
     I will tell you about the recent situation of Japanese houses.
     The total number of houses in Japan is 57.59 million and the total number of households in Japan is 49.97 million. Approximately fifty five percent of the total number of houses in Japan is a detached house, approximately three percent of them is a tenement house, and approximately forty two percent of them is an apartment. Moreover, when classifying houses of Japan with regard to their structure, about twenty seven percent of the total number of houses in Japan is a wooden house, about thirty two percent of them is a wooden and fire-proofed house, and about thirty three percent of them is a reinforced steel-framed concrete house. The national average size of house in Japan per house is about eighty eight square meters, and the national average number of rooms per house is about 4.7 rooms. In addition, the ratio of owned houses is about sixty percent. However, there is a great difference between the city and the country in how to build houses, size of houses, the ratio of owned houses. For example, in Tokyo, the number of apartments is more than the number of datached houses, and takes up about sixty seven percent of the total number of houses in Japan. In the size of houses, compared to about fifty nine square meters in Tokyo and about sixty seven square meters in Osaka, the size of houses in Toyama is one hundred fifty one square meters and the size of houses in Akita is one hundred thirty five square meters. The ratio of owned houses in Tokyo is the lowest in Japan and about forty one percent, and the ratio of owned houses in Osaka is the second lowest in Japan and about forty nine percent. The ratio of owned houses in Toyama is the highest in Japan and about eighty percent, and the ratio of owned houses in Akita is the second highest in Japan and about seventy seven percent. In short, we can say that  many people live in rental narrow apartments because, in urban area such as Tokyo, the price of land is high and the population is dense. By the way, an apartment has become higher. The highest apartment in Japan is a house of height of two hundred meters and a fifty four stories house in Osaka.
      In the period of rapid economic growth that began in the 1950s, Japan became a housing shortage of population because the population centered at urban area, so a lot of apartments began to be built in order to supply a large amount of housing. After that, not only a rental apartment but also a condominium appeared. At the same time, the number of the nuclear family rapidly increased, for many young people left thier parents and moved to urban areas. In 1955, the ratio of the nuclear family was as many as that of the three-generation households, but, in 1980, the ratio of the nuclear family became sixty percent and the ratio of the three-generation households became sixteen percent. Then, the ratio of the three-generation households has decreased, while the ratio of single-person households has increased.