Apartment

Over at Wired News, iMomus has been thinking about the advantages of living in a very, very small apartment in Tokyo.

Who needs a big fridge when you have a 24-hour convenience store right outside your building? Who needs a big bathroom when there's a well-equipped sento (a spa-like public bathhouse) nearby? Who needs a garage when Tokyo's public transport is so great? Even a big bedroom becomes unnecessary when you can book a love hotel—equipped with a Jacuzzi, vibrating bed and a karaoke machine—by the hour. When your city has great amenities, when its public zones are safe and inviting, you don't need a lot of space at home.

Pretty much the opposite of the the “American Dream,” that.

He also offers a list of strategies for releasing your attachment to your living space. It brings back unhappy memories of Wired magazine back in the old days—dig these too-clever neologisms.

• Hikki
• The Guest
• The Dole
• Writer Nomad
• Smart Homeless
• Squatters and Eel Houses
• Hay Balers and Self Builders
• Cockpit Living

But—again like Wired in the old days—there is some provocative utopian thinking lurking in there.