Regional Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects of Houses in Tokyo Metropolitan Region Piyush Tiwari 1 Abstract: In Japan, the number of houses available exceeds the demand in all prefectures. Improving housing quality has gained importance over building new dwelling stock. The thrust of housing policies and programs in Japan is to im- prove housing quality. Housing quality is a very loosely defined term, and there is no consensus in the housing literature on its measurement. The present paper proposes the use of the hedonic approach to estimate a quantifiable measure of housing quality in the Tokyo Metropolitan Region TMR. The objective of this paper is to compare housing quality in the five prefectures of the TMR and among six tenures of housing choice. The results indicate that the condition of rental housing in general is poor. CE Database keywords: Japan; Urban areas; Housing. Introduction After World War II, the focus of housing policies in Japan was on providing shelter for its citizens whose homes were destroyed by the war. In 1966, housing construction program law was enacted. Its policies and targets were formulated under the five-year programs. The main objective of this law was to bridge the housing shortage. By the end of the second program in 1975, the total number of houses available exceeded the number of households in every prefecture of Japan. This achievement shifted concern from building to the improvement of housing quality. Currently, the Seventh Housing Construction Five-Year Program 1996 – 2001 is underway. The main objectives of the Seventh Five-Year Plan are the following: • Formation of good-quality housing stock that meets the nation’s needs; • Promotion of safe, comfortable urban living and living environment; • Provisions that fosters an active elderly society; and 1 Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences, Univ. of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan. E-mail: tiwari@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp Note. Discussion open until August 1, 2002. Separate discussions must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on February 27, 2001; approved on August 14, 2001. This paper is part of the Journal of Urban Planning and Development, Vol. 128, No. 1, March 1, 2002. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9453/2002/1-42–57/$8.00+$.50 per page. 42 / JOURNAL OF URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT / MARCH 2002