[USNBandit]

A large part of the problem in Japan is the cost of housing. Unless your family owns a plot of land most middle class won't be able to afford a postage stamp size lot to drop a house on.

One of my friends in Japan is a fire house captain in Yokohama. The only way he could afford his home was to put a new house on the same land his father's home had been on. It seemed quite common to move out, have your house leveled, and have a new one put in its place.

[Jonty30]

You could always take out one of those multi-generational mortgages they have over there.

Indenture your children, get a house.