Clark Parker

Company and government employee housing in Tokyo and Japan

Preamble

Despite its reputation (to some) as an expensive city, Tokyo’s rental costs are quite reasonable for such a large and economically vital city. One part of this equation is incredible housing density made possible by liberal zoning laws. Another part of this equation is the abundance of government / public housing typically referred to as ‘danchi’. This post explores a related phenomenon: housing for company and government employees.

Part I: Welcome back to the danchi

Danchi 団地 have been a frequent topic in this and my related blog: the tokyo files: danchi 東京団地萌え

Danchi generally refer to the public housing complexes built in Japan during the period of rapid economic growth following World War 2 (高度経済成長). While danchi typically refer to public housing complexes, the concept of danchi is more closely related to architectural form and urban design rather than administrative/funding structure. As such, my definition of danchi includes not only public housing complexes but also similarly-designed groups of structures such as company housing or housing for employees of various government entities. For instance, the “Ministry of Finance Kanto Local Finance Bureau Yoga Housing” physically shares all or most of the qualities of a classic danchi. Classic features generally include:

(1) Multiple structures that are similar or identical to each other

(2) Buildings are marked with each building’s number (or sometimes letter) on the side of the building

(3) Buildings are generally multi-story (~4-5 stories),

While ~4-5 stories is a typical danchi, it is not uncommon to find high-rise danchi in more centrally-located areas such as Koto-ku. Also, there are some examples of smaller danchi such as 2-story buildings.

(4) Danchi grounds typically contain some shared features such as a playground, water tower, community hall

Features (2), (3), and (4) can all be seen in this picture of the now-demolished Asagaya Housing, which I’ve written about before.

(5) Many danchi have a danchi map which shows visitors the local of each building

The rest of this post will focus on sub-group of danchi that are company housing or used as housing for government employees.

Part II: Definitions

There are many different Japanese words used to describe individual danchi complexes. In part III we will get to looks at specific examples of company housing and government housing, but let’s first look at some of the common terms used in this space:

Company housing definitions

社宅 = shataku しゃたく =  company house / corporate housing (link 1; link 2; link 3; link 4)

Shataku is defined as:

「給与住宅の一。 主として民間企業が自社の従業貝に有償または無償で貸与する住宅。 住宅の形式または構造は問わない」 “A type of salaried housing. Housing mainly rented by private companies to their employees for a fee or free of charge. The form or structure of the housing does not matter.”

Per 『建築大辞典』 Encyclopedia of Architecture and Building (via Wikipedia)

This definition above includes the term 給与住宅 (kyuyo jutaku = “company housing provided for employees” or literally, “salary housing”)

And also:

「社員を住まわせるための会社所有の住宅」”Company-owned housing for employees to live in”

Kojien (Dictionary) 『広辞苑』 (via Wikipedia)

In addition to shataku, other terms I’ve seen include:

  • 職員宿 = employee’s lodging / staff hotel
  • 産業住宅 = housing for industrial workers; the four kanji characters above are made up of:
    • 産業 = industry
    • 住宅 = jutaku じゅうたく = housing, dwelling, dwelling house, residential building

Government Housing definitions

Various terms I’ve seen regarding government / civil servant housing. I can’t quite follow the details, but it appears that Ministry-specific housing (省庁別宿舎) is being phased-out in favor of ‘joint housing’ (合同宿舎) (sources: Wikipedia; Japanese law)

  • 宿舎 = shukusha しゅくしゃ = dormitory, lodging house, living quarters, accommodations, residence; this term is used in most of the definitions that follow
  • 政宿舎 = government (政) housing (shukusha)
  • 公務員住宅 = Kōmuin jutaku= civil servant (公務員) housing (住宅 jutaku)
  • 公務員宿舎 = Kōmuin shukusha = civil servant (公務員) housing (宿舎 shukusha)
  • 省庁別宿舎 =ministry-specific (省庁別) housing (shukusha) (see relevant laws)
  • 合同宿舎 = gōdō shukusha ごうどう しゅくしゃ = joint (合同) housing 宿舎 (shukusha)
  • 共同宿舎 = community housing = community 共同 housing 宿舎 (shukusha)
  • 官舎 = kansha かんしゃ = official residence / lodging house for civil servants
  • 公舎 = kosha こうしゃ (official residence / official house)

Other definitions

There are also specific terms that delineate the type of resident, e.g. single or family:

  • 舎独身寮 / 独身寮= single’s housing / single’s dormitory
  • 政独身寮 = government single’s dorm
  • 寮 = ryo = dormitory or housing)
  • 家族寮 = kazoku ryo = family housing (家族 = family and 寮 = dormitory or housing)
  • 荘 = so = suffix meaning manor or villa; example: Tokiwa-so historical manga house

Other related terms include:

  • 寮 = dormitory
  • 職員寮 = staff dormitory
  • 職員宿舎 = shokuin shukusha = staff 職員 (shokuin) housing 宿舎 (shukusha)
  • 職員住宅 = shokuin jutaku = staff housing (for civil servants)
  • 従事者公舎 = worker’s housing
  • 集合住宅 = shugo jutaku (shūgō jūtaku) = multiple‐dwelling apartment complex / collective housing / apartment houses
  • 舎宅 = shataku = residence (not to be confused with 社宅 = shataku =  company house / corporate housing)
Part III: Background on Company and Government Housing

I wasn’t aware that company and government housing were a common category of housing until I started creating my Danchi Map of Tokyo. During the mapping process, various company and government housing danchi kept appearing. Due to the variety of companies and government agencies involved, they are among the most satisfying danchi to encounter. But how common are these? I asked myself this and other questions…and attempted to answer them.

Question 1: What is the history of company and government housing? How did it start?

There is an excellent passage in the book Housing and Social Transition in Japan (pages 80-81), the chapter “Welfare regime theories and the Japanese housing system”, by Iwao Sato:

Company housing first appeared in Japan with the emergence of the textiles and mining industries during the burgeoning of modern industry in the late nineteenth century. Companies in those industries provided their employees with housing (dormitory-style ryo) near their places of work. Generally speaking, however, until the Second World War most workers lived in regular private rental accommodation (Ariizumi, 1956).

The catalyst for the dramatic expansion and improvement of corporate housing welfare came during the Second World War, when, to ease the strain on worker housing in urban heavy industry zones (the centres of the war industry), many companies began providing housing for their employees. After the war, corporate housing programmes were further expanded and popularized to fill what was by then a serious housing shortage. In 1948, company housing accounted for 5.8 per cent of total housing stock, and that share subsequently rose even higher, to 6.7 per cent in 1958 and 7.0 per cent in 1963 (Housing Survey of Japan). From the late 1960s on, Japanese corporations also began actively helping employees to acquire their own homes by providing them with low-interest loans, interest subsidies and other assistance towards home ownership. In this way, the corporate sector became an important subsystem of Japan’s post-war housing system (Kaneko, 1991; Fujita and Kojima, 1997; Shinkai, 1997; Tachibanaki, 2001, 2005).

…In the corporate sector, meanwhile, the limited number of public housing projects being constructed despite the serious post-war housing shortage meant that companies needed to implement their own housing policies for their employees (Ariizumi, 1956). Whereas Europe around the same time saw vigorous construction of social rental housing, with governments playing a leading part in the recovery of the housing system, in Japan the corporate sector came to assume that role in the government’s stead. Even after the serious housing shortage of the immediate post-war years had been significantly alleviated, Japan’s corporate sector continued and even enhanced its provision of housing welfare to employees. This was because doing so brought benefits to corporations themselves, including the securing of a quality labour force, the improved productivity that came from giving employees a good work environment, employee loyalty to the company and good labour–management relations (Shinkai, 1997; Tachibanaki, 2001, 2005).

Another factor that must not be overlooked is that labour unions were also actively involved in corporate efforts to provide housing welfare. Because labour unions in Japan were organized separately on an individual company basis, union demands regarding housing were made at the level of labour negotiations within each company and were aimed at improving the housing welfare provided by the company. The provision of company housing was thus in fact also a union demand; furthermore, when in the late 1960s corporations began actively helping employees to become homeowners, labour unions eagerly embraced that trend as well.

Question 2: How much company and government housing is there in Tokyo or Japan?

I may try to answer this more fully later, but one source I found, which explained reasons for low rents in Japan, noted that in the year 2000, 4.9% of all private households in Tokyo lived in employer-provided housing (the figure was 5.7% in 1995). Original text in German:

Im Jahr 2000 lebten in Tōkyō 4,9 % aller Privathaushalte in solchen durch den Arbeitgeber vermittelten Wohnungen; 1995 waren es allerdings noch 5,7 % gewesen (eig. Berechnungen nach SŌMUCHŌ TŌKEIKYOKU, Kokusei chōsa hōkoku 1995, 2000).

Source: “Der Wohnungsmarkt in Tōkyō” (The housing market in Tokyo), from Monographien Herausgegeben vom Deutschen Institut für Japanstudien Band 42, 2008, page 206

Question 3: Where is the company and government housing located? Is it concentrated in any specific area(s)? Within Tokyo area, where is it located?

Based on my observation, company and government housing is distributed across all of greater Tokyo. Areas of concentration are noted in Fuchu-shi (map) and Musashino-shi (map) in in western Tokyo, and Setagaya-ku (map) in Tokyo’s 23 central wards.

Question 4: Which companies (and government agencies) use it? Any specific industries?

The next section describes most of the companies and government agencies that I have come across when mapping several hundred danchi in the Tokyo area. Some of the more popular entities or categories are:

  • NTT
  • Japan Post
  • Japan Rail
  • Heavy industry
  • Horse racing
  • Power  / energy companies
  • Ministries of tax and finance
  • Ministry of Defense
  • Prisons

Question 5: How similar are company and government housing compared to traditional danchi?

Per my observations, company housing is generally smaller in scale compared to traditional danchi, with many complexes consisting of just one or two buildings. Company housing often has gates protecting the complex’s parking lot and grounds – this is virtually unheard of for traditional danchi. Government housing is similar to company housing, but there are some government housing complexes that have dozens of buildings.

Question 6: What is the current status of Company and Government housing in Japan? Is it in the decline?

I have noticed that several company and government housing complexes have been demolished in the past decade or so. There are also examples of former corporate or government housing being renovated and repurposed for general rental use, such as in the case of JR East.

The decline of corporate / government housing is consistent with an article from 2007, which notes the broader trend of private housing:

Withdrawal of the corporate sector from housing welfare: The Japanese housing system described above has been undergoing a marked transformation since the 1990s. One major change is that private corporations, which previously constituted an important subsystem of the housing system, are withdrawing from the housing welfare field. Another is that the thrust of the government’s housing policy has turned sharply towards the formation of a more market-oriented housing system. (Housing and Social Transition in Japan (PDF): Iwao Sato, Page 84)

Question 7: Anything else to add?

Of note: in the movie Initiation Love イニシエーション・ラブ (2015), one of the main characters lives in company housing (this is based on my memory, but i found corroboration in this review). Interestingly, in another piece of danchi cinema, Atsuko Maeda (formerly of AKB48), also stars in The Complex クロユリ団地 (Kuroyuri danchi). For more about danchi in film, see: Danchi in film 映画における団地, Part I: 1958-1980.

Part IV: What are some example of company and government housing?

Map of Tokyo-area danchi, including a separate section for company or government housing

The following is an extensive (though not complete) list of company and government housing in the greater Tokyo area, which I’ve grouped based on the type of company or government agency.

Post Office & Telecom

Hospital / Medical / Health

Media, Film, and Paper(s)

Food, Farming and Drink

Banking, Finance, Insurance

Banking, Finance, Insurance: Government

  • Kanto Local Finance Bureau Government Housing 関東財務局宿舎 / 関東財務局住宅 / 国有地 (public land) 財務省関東財務局 (10 instances)
  • Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau dormitory 東京国税局寮 (5 instances)
  • Bank of Japan Family Housing 日本銀行笹塚家族寮
  • Ministry of Finance Housing 財務省十条宿舎 (includes stenographers – see post)
  • Finance Agency Housing 住宅金融支援機構西落合宿舎
  • Japan Bank for International Cooperation  (JBIC) company housing 国際協力銀行住宅 (2 instances)
  • Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) housing 日本政策金融公庫住宅 (2 instances)

Construction and Real Estate

Transport and Logistics

Automotive, Trains & buses

Chemicals & Paint

Metals, Minerals, and Mining

Construction, Manufacturing, and other heavy industries

Natural Resources (government)

Horse and Bike racing

Power and Energy

Government: Business Development

Education

  • University of Tokyo staff housing 東大職員宿舎
  • Hiroike Gakuen housing 廣池学園北部住宅 (school)
  • Seikei Gakuen (Private School) Staff Housing 成蹊学園第一職員住宅 / 成蹊学園第三職員住宅 / 成蹊学園第ニ職員住宅
  • Okayama Prefecture Scholarship Association Dorm 岡山県育英会東京寮

Government: International and Legal

  • Development Bank apartment 開発銀行アパート
  • Development Bank of Japan housing 日本政策投資銀行舎宅 (4 instances)
  • International Legal Affairs staff dorm 国際法務総合センター職員宿舎
  • Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) company housing 日本貿易振興機構上北沢職員住宅 / 日本貿易振興 機構上北沢住宅
  • Ministry of Justice housing 法務省薬園台職員宿舎独身寮
  • Yokohama Customs Konan-dai dormitory 横浜税関港南台寮

Weather & radar

Civil Service & other government employees

  • Civil Servant (komuin) housing (shukusha) 公務員宿舎 (5 instances)
  • Civil Servant housing (jutaku) 公務員住宅 (8 instances)
  • Civil Servant residence (so) 公務員荘 (2 instances)
  • Civil Servant official residence (kansha) 公務員官舎
  • Civil Servant dormitory (ryo) 公務員寮
  • National Civil Servant housing 国家公務員住宅 / 国家公務員宿舎住宅 (3 instances)
  • Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee housing 東京都職員住宅 / 都職員住宅 (2 instances)
  • Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations (KKR) dormitory 国家公務員共済組合連合会睦寮 (see post)
  • Japan Workers’ Housing Association housing 日本勤労者住宅協会桑川町住宅
  • House of Representatives member lodging, Akasaka 衆議院赤坂議員宿舎
  • Prefecture Hall (Todofu-Ken Kaikan) staff housing 都道府県会館職員宿舎

Police and Prisons

  • Yokohama Prison employee housing 横浜刑務所職員宿舎
  • Fuchu Prison staff dorm 府中刑務所職員宿舎
  • Chiba Police Stand-by lodging 千葉県警察香澄待機宿舎 (待機 = standby; 宿舎 = lodging)
  • Tokyo Metropolitan Police housing 警視庁住宅 / 警視庁待機寮住宅 (5)
  • Kanagawa Prefecture Police housing 県警公舎寮 / 神奈川県警察寮
  • Totsuka (Kanagawa) Police Station housing 戸塚警察署汲沢町宿舎
  • Vigilante Association housing (Metropolitan Police support organization) 自警会住宅
  • Japan Police Personnel Mutual Aid Association housing 警察共済組合浦安宿舎

Military / Defense

Fire and emergency services

  • Tokyo Fire Department dormitory 東京消防庁寮 (6 instances)
  • Tokyo Disaster Prevention Countermeasures staff housing 都災害対策職員住宅 / 都災害対策要員住宅 (2 instances)

Links

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