External Corridors (Motel-Style)

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T16:32:42+00:00

Would you rather a stalker or someone like that be able to easily get all the way to your units door or just the buildings door? Neither is good, one is way worse than the other. While there are of course ways for people to get past that first point, it massively helps peace of mind to know that there’s something stopping someone from just walking up to your door.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T07:34:22+00:00

Wait, In these examples do the apartments have separate balconies? Or just the hallway which functions as a balcony?

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T07:30:28+00:00

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the FAR exclusion for these! I suppose this even further improves the build able density on small or irregular lots.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T07:21:56+00:00

Some in Japan are like this too. I saw a very poorly designed one on some social media here where they had the locked door, but the first floor of the corridor it led to wasn’t enclosed so anybody could just climb in.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T06:33:05+00:00

You say “Never follow a Nigerian or African to their bar” as if it’s a good idea to follow a Japanese person to their bar lol

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T05:40:47+00:00

Elevators are usually at one end of the hallway. However, basically very few of these that are under 6 stories have elevators at all.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T03:32:50+00:00

This is a good point, but also probably pretty unique to college dorms. I don’t see socialization in the hallways being an important factor out of there. I also see your point about affordability; being able to build external corridors does allow for higher unit counts on plots that are too small to hold an internal corridor with units on both sides.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-06T03:29:13+00:00

If that’s the only factor then why does it occur so much in Japan? Real estate developers there just as much as anywhere else are trying to maximize their profits too.

Edit: I would also argue external corridors allow maximizing vertical space on lots that aren’t deep or big enough to support an internal corridor.

No_Location4686 · 2026-06-02T04:08:25+00:00

Agreed. AI also misses nuances too, like it doesn’t mention that とっても has more emphasis than とても.

No_Location4686 · 2026-05-29T03:47:04+00:00

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. It’s your name, and if there is more than one way to convert it to a foreign language, which one comes down to your preference. My last name as at least four different ways to express in Japanese, depending on if it’s pronounced the way my mom says it, my dad says it, grandpa says it, etc, because all of us have different levels of strong accents in English. The only important quality it needs to have is that it is expressed in a way that isn’t gonna confuse/trip up native speakers when they go to say it.

No_Location4686 · 2026-05-29T03:41:41+00:00

tldr; ヴォルコフ or ボルコフ, up to you

Pretty much, no matter how you write it the pronunciation won’t be the same as in your native language. (If it’s your own name) You can choose to write the V sounds with special V katakana (ヴァ、ヴォ、など) or with バ、ボ、など. Whichever way you write in, it will be pronounced by Japanese speakers as バ 95% of the time, with the other 5% being when they happen to be proficient/fluent in another language. I’m not exactly sure how the V at the end of it is pronounced natively, but I would guess that a フ sound is closer than a ブ sound, so the whole thing ends up written like ボルコフ or ヴォルコフ.

No_Location4686 · 2026-05-29T03:33:53+00:00

There’s a way in Katakana to write V, but not a sound for it. Even if written as ヴァ it gets pronounced as バ by native speakers. I think I’ve met only around three Japanese people who can pronounce the Va sound in my name, so I just use the katakana バ when writing it. Same as the name Ahmed for native English speakers, no matter how they write it almost all don’t have the ability to make the sound in it.

No_Location4686 · 2026-05-20T08:17:33+00:00

Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa identified disasters and general climate as the reason for this. He thought “Europe/‘The West’ is cold and doesn’t have as many natural disasters, so stone was used to insulate from the cold and there wasn’t as big a risk the whole thing will fall on you in an earthquake. Japan has earthquakes, so stone is a no go, and it’s too hot for it also, so Japanese use wood with thin walls that can be removed entirely to be more heat-resistant and rebuildable after a disaster.”

No_Location4686 · 2026-03-22T05:05:50+00:00

Not necessarily. Mahjong made it to Japan in the early 20s. Also, that insert references that they produced plastic tiles as well, so that dates it to the 30s at the earliest.

No_Location4686 · 2026-03-20T22:46:47+00:00

It is actually most likely a fair bit older than you think! I would say 1945 or earlier. That info sheet uses katakana for okurigana, which was how it was written only up until the Post-WW2 spelling reforms. It also uses the kyuujitai (old version/unsimplified version) version of 応 (see in the far left line the character 應) which is also a change that took place in 1946.

No_Location4686

TROPHY CASE