Danchi

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Danchi (団地) is the Japanese word (literally 'group land') for a large cluster of apartment buildings. During the 50's, 60's, and 70's, the Japanese created many such low-rent apartment complexes in the outskirts of urban areas to offset the housing demand of the then-increasing Japanese population. Fewer and fewer Japanese live in the gradually aging danchi, generally desiring individual housing left over from the Japanese bubble -- new and exclusive private apartments, called mansion. Many danchi are owned by large corporations, who encourage employees to live alongside their colleagues, sometimes rent-free, in order to foster a corporate 'family' atmosphere.

The rent payment for a danchi is much cheaper than the lease of a mansion or mortgage of a used or new house, but usually the prospective tenant must participate in a lottery in order to be assigned a open apartment. The Japanese housing authority then assigns the tenant. Some danchi are extremely new and modern, but since there is a lottery for assignment and many open apartments in the older danchi, it is a risk to enter public housing.