Hey everyone!
Today we're going to talk about how houses are built in Japan.
The technology.
These days it's SO MUCH BETTER than it used to be!
Heck yeah it is.
The first apartment I lived in in Japan was...
basically crap.
Yeeep.
It was pretty bad.
The walls were so thin we could listen to our neighbor's TV.
And in the winter when we'd wake up the temperature inside was 40 - 45°F (6-7°C).
And sometimes even colder.
It was so freaking cold!
But recently we've been visiting Toyota Home Aichi's houses and I'm pretty impressed.
Yeah, really.
All the problems I had with our first apartment they seem to have fixed.
Yep.
What was the best thing (about these new houses)?
Well, since we live in Japan you always have to worry about earthquakes.
Right. The earthquake resistance of the houses we visited was amazing.
When we visited their factory, they showed us a video of one of their houses being tested.
Ahh the stability test. That was amazing.
It was tested against a level 7 (Japan's highest level--same as 3/11 quake) earthquake
which is what we're expecting the upcoming Tokai earthquake will be
and the house was COMPLETELY FINE.
And when we went inside, we could still open the doors.
It was still smooth.
I was so surprised by that.
In my life so far there have already been two major earthquakes:
the Kobe earthquake and the 3/11 earthquake.
I think there will probably be one more before I die:
the Tokai earthquake.
Unfortunately it'll probably happen...
So I think earthquake resistance is incredibly important.
What else did you like?
THE INSULATION
LIKE FINALLY JAPAN THANK YOU
Yeah, that was pretty great.
At a model house they had the floors "cut open" so you could see the insulation inside.
There was more than enough of it.
Yeah, a ton.
At the factory there was also a place where you could "feel" how much each level of insulation prevented heat from transferring through it.
Yeah, I did that one.
The amount of insulation they use has really changed. It was great.
Plus the support beams are so thick (and they use 2 of them), which made the walls really thick
so there's a ton of room in the walls for insulation.
The walls were this thick!
It was freaking thick!
Our apartment was like this...
What else was there?
Glass. The glass they use for windows.
There's a window at my parent's house with two separate glass windows back to back to prevent sound
from coming inside, but even then you can hear outside really easily.
But at that Anjo model house, after I shut the door you couldn't hardly hear outside at all!
Yeah, that had really great soundproofing.
I was so freaking happy about that you have no idea.
Is there anything that surprised you?
THE CENTRAL HEATING
Oh, they called it "Smart air".
That's normal in America, right?
Yeah, just about everyone has it.
Wow.
When foreigners come to Japan they get excited that our toilet seats are heated,
but when I was in America the WHOLE BATHROOM was warm!
Yeah. Well, having both would be nice!
Japanese heated toilet seats AND central heating!
That was pretty great.
By the way, do they have termites in America?
Yepppp
Recently my parents found termites in their house.
Oh shhhh-
I'm sure they'll take care of it.
But since these houses are build with steel beams, termites can't eat them.
Ahhh true.
I like that.
Since the steel frame is heavier than other building materials,
it can support the weight of the house with fewer support beams
so they can make the windows bigger and you get more light.
I liked that a lot.
I don't care if our house looks big from the outside,
it's how big it looks on the inside that I care about.
Our apartment is kind of small but it has a lot of natural light.
That's what I like.
What else surprised you?
How fast they build the houses!
That was really amazing to watch.
It was super fast.
Since they finish it in one day they don't have to worry about rain or weather damaging anything.
And just watching it is fun. :D
It makes you want to take the day off work so you can watch your house get built.
The reason they put it together so quickly is because most of it's actually built in the factory.
More than 80%.
It seems like it's kind of similar to American modular homes,
but it's actually different.
Those don't have great reputations.
Yeah...
It's like they just plop the entire house on a truck.
I would say that's kind of like a doll house, whereas Toyota Home seems more like Legos.
Yeah, I think so, too.
I want one of these in the future.
Well, they designed a house for us.
So now we just need to save up.
Anyway, if you have time I highly recommend visiting a model house or their factory tour.
It was a lot of fun and I really learned a lot.
Yep.
And it was free.
Hellz yeah it was.
All of it.
And we got a free BENTO BOX YEEEAHHHHH
It was so good
It was a lot of fun, so check it out if you can.
Thank you for watching!