House Hunting is "Baldur's Gate" — The Battle of Specs vs. Intuition

Table of Contents

Japanese “Density” and American “Vastness”

It has been half a year since I returned to Japan, and I have completely adapted to life here. The food is delicious, convenience stores are actually convenient, and trains arrive exactly on time. My readjustment is complete. In fact, I am fully enjoying the Japanese culture and nature that I didn’t appreciate before moving to the US.

However, in fleeting moments, I miss the “pointless vastness” of America. That expansive sky and those unnecessarily wide roads. For a body accustomed to that scale, the housing situation in Japan feels incredibly dense, sometimes even suffocating.

So, I decided to embark on a journey to find a place that secures Japanese convenience while reclaiming that “sense of openness.” This patch note is a record of my house-hunting saga. In Japan, unlike the US where buying an existing home is the norm, “building your own house” is a very common option for middle-class families. It’s not just for the ultra-wealthy.

Variable Overload: House Building is “Baldur’s Gate”

When I decided to buy a house, I realized something: isn’t this game impossible?

It’s not just about deciding “where to live.” Land asset value, hazard maps, spec homes vs. custom builds vs. renovations, wood vs. steel frame, insulation grades, earthquake resistance grades…

There are too many parameters to consider. It’s just like Baldur’s Gate 3. You combine infinite possibilities of races, classes, abilities, party composition, walkthrough order, combat styles, etc. But unlike the game, there are no save points. There is no walkthrough wiki with the “correct answer.” At best, you only find generalities like “Ultimately, your own values are the answer.” Give me back the time I spent reading to the conclusion.

Anyway, I had to start by learning basic rules like “insulation ratings” and “airtightness scores.” My brain was on the verge of exploding just from the research.

So, what do you do in times like this? You narrow down the axes of thinking. Dimensionality reduction. How? Through discussions with my wife and relying on our senses. Based on the massive amount of information consumed by this stage, we concluded that “Semi-custom Housing” might match our needs. This is a popular model in Japan where you choose from a set of architect-designed base plans and customize the interior, rather than designing everything from scratch (Full Custom) or buying a cookie-cutter spec home.

Choosing the Land

Despair won’t build a house, so I started with land selection. Among countless variables, I placed particular weight on these three:

1. Value for Money
2. Access to Central Tokyo & Western Japan
3. Openness and Nature

Filtering with these conditions, it became a showdown between the “Chuo Line” and the “Shonan-Shinjuku Line.” (Note: Tokyo is like NYC—life revolves around trains. There are countless lines, and choosing “which line” is synonymous with choosing a lifestyle.)

First, the Ofuna/Zushi area (South of Tokyo, coastal side). The sea is close, and nature is amazing. However, walking around the actual site, the roads are narrow and there are many slopes. Above all, it lacks an “urban vibe.” As a side note, while exploring Zushi, I happened to see a high-end residential area called “Hiroyama Garden Estate.” I looked it up and found that even the smallest plot is around 5,000 sq ft (which is massive by Japanese standards), with a view of Mt. Fuji from the window, and average people cannot even enter as there are dedicated security guards. I was surprised that such a place exists in Japan. It was such a different world that I wouldn’t have been surprised if water from a vending machine cost 10 USD.

Next, the Urawa area (North of Tokyo, safe suburban vibe). The city is clean and the educational environment seems good, but there was nothing particularly moving about it, and the land prices were painful. Also, access to mountains and the sea is poor, so it was lacking in nature.

And where I arrived is Tachikawa (West of Tokyo). The station area is urban with department stores and restaurants, but move a bit away, and thanks to the influence of the former US military base, the roads are wide and the blocks are organized. There is a massive park called Showa Kinen Park, the Tama River is close, and access to the mountains is good.

“Oh, this feels a bit like America.”

Although access to the city center is not as good as the Shonan-Shinjuku Line, it was the moment other conditions balanced out perfectly. I decided to build here.

Choosing a Builder: Information Overload

Once the land is decided, next is the building. Another swamp of information awaited here.

Websites only show the highlights. Price per square foot, construction methods, insulation performance, airtightness… As a software engineer, I tend to run towards “numbers” rather than emotion. Sadly, us engineers are creatures that feel an irresistible gravitational pull towards crisp numbers rather than fluffy parameters like “atmosphere.” Binge-watching videos from house-building YouTubers, my mindset completely shifted to “Performance is King.”

Worrying forever won’t help, so I formulated my own guidelines.

• House < Land: House depreciates quickly in Japan, but land remains as an asset.
• High Insulation/Airtight Wood Construction: So I can go to the bathroom in summer and winter without mental preparation. The optimal solution for the Japanese climate (or so I believe).
• Reliability: Don’t gamble with unknown local builders; go for major to mid-sized companies with guaranteed construction quality.

Based on these guidelines, I narrowed it down to 5-6 companies that balance performance specialization with design (emotion) and charged into the model home parks.

Field Test: Logic vs. Intuition

Visiting the model homes, you see things that aren’t on the web spec sheets.

Misawa Home, Mitsui Home, and Aqura Home were very impressive. Misawa’s “KURA” storage innovation and detailed design backed by patents. Mitsui’s stunning designs (unfortunately, we gave up because standard plans wouldn’t work for us). Aqura’s sense of balance. These companies combined “performance” and “living fun,” and my intuition reacted positively.

The biggest miscalculation was Ichijo, which was the favorite in my initial research.

True to their catchphrase “House is Performance,” their numerical specs are the strongest. Even other builders said, “We can’t beat Ichijo in performance.” However, what awaited me when I entered the model home in high spirits was a conversation that didn’t quite click.

Me: "I want to manage temperature with a central air conditioning system." (Note: Most Japanese homes use individual mini-split units for each room, so central AC is a premium feature here.)

Sales: "Floor heating and floor cooling are sufficient. You don't need whole-house AC."

Me: "But can I make fine temperature adjustments?"

Sales: "Do you know why people feel cold? Human perceived temperature is heavily dependent on humidity... You won't understand this unless you experience it..."

It felt like searching for a root cause in log outputs—it seems related, but you just can’t get to the core information. There were several pointless exchanges, and my wife also looked bored with the number-based sales pitch. On the design front, customization options were extremely limited, like “You can choose from these 2 types of exterior tiles and a few colors.” The biggest “Red Flag” was that I didn’t think “Cool!” at all after entering the model home.

I suddenly thought. “Ah, this is like a meal replacement shake.”

The nutritional value (insulation, airtightness, earthquake resistance) is perfect. If you ingest this, you definitely won’t catch a cold and will stay healthy. But sometimes, even if we sacrifice health a little, we want to eat “something exciting like Hamburgers or BBQ.”

The result was that even though it was the strongest on data, I couldn’t say “Go.”

Conclusion: Trust Your Intuition

In a game, you can reload if you fail, but life is a one-shot deal. While getting lost searching for the perfect answer, we get older, good land gets sold, prices go up, and the cost of waiting keeps rising.

That’s why, after doing research for a certain period (this is important), finally, you have to swallow your anxiety and take a leap of faith. …I tell myself this every day to maintain my mental stability.

Anyway, I felt this weekend that I can’t discard “Cool” for just “Correct.”

So, my journey of house hunting continues. Next time, I will challenge the performance monster “Yamato Juken” and the king of wood “Sumitomo Forestry.”

Will I be able to find the optimal solution between specs and intuition?

Stay tuned.