Right now, Asia is in our i-List and the third country we're examining in depth this month, Japan,
where there's a growing trend to make homes more and more compact,
some, believe it or not, about he size of a parking space.
It is amazing how efficiently space can be used when you're determined enough.
You'll see in this report from Kyung Lah.
This is no trick of the lens.
Super thin, ultra-compact, the kitchen-living-dining-room, the size of an American walk-in closet.
Fuyuhito Moriya and his mom, Yoko, call this tiny three-story, single-family...uh, space...home.
Space-saving sliding curtains replace doors. Appliances tucked under counters or hidden in cabinets.
Half-sized sinks. Oversized windows and glass doors to create the illusion of space.
Shoes stashed in stairway nooks.
Zenbu corner?
Zenbu.
Every single corner is used.
Hai.
Even the staircase is designed to shave inches. This is a spiral staircase, but how does this save space.
It's triangular, says Moriya, "shrinking the diameter of the spiral.
What are the challenges of living in a small house, in an ultra-small house?
Getting enough outside light in, says Moriya. "And keeping junk to an absolute minimum."
The Moriya's only have two coffee cups in the house.
While living in cramped quarters is nothing new here in space-starved Tokyo. Ultra-small houses redefine small.
This house sites on 30 square meters, the space where you'd ordinarily park just one car.
This was originally a parking space. Moriya didn't have enough money to build a full-sized house.
But I heard about ultra-small houses in Japan, he says.
I thought this is doable by building the rooms on top of each other instead of just side-by-side.
This isn't just doable in today's economy, but necessary, says architect Junichi Sugiyama.
Sugiyama is designing a single-family home on this small plot of land, about five steps across.
That's a third of the size of the already modest Japanese home and half the cost.
What percentage of the business now is ultra-small houses?
They make up about 70 percent of our business, says Sugiyama, but he says it's not because people want these tiny homes,
more that fewer people are able to afford a standard-sized home in a stagnant economy.
Moriya spent about US$500,000 to build his home -- a bargain for your own new home in modern Tokyo.
But there are compromises.
Is privacy ever a challenge because your mother lives with you?
Yeah, it's a problem, notes this 39-year-old single man.
He shares a bedroom with his mom. Six months living here, it's been a little touch-and-go they both say,
but at the end of the day, they are property owners. Home sweet small home.