Fancy apartment for lawmakers

New public dormitory for House of Representatives members now under construction in the central part of Tokyo. This dormitory has currently been exposed to lots of criticism. Some TV show hosts complain that rent fee of this dormitory is too low. “Can you believe that its rent fee is only about US$900, while market rate for similar apartments in this area is US$4,500!? The difference will be covered by OUR tax!” one of the hosts speaks up.

Yes, the rent fee is low. I wish I could live in this area with such low rate. But…..how much should we bear for this new dormitory?

Roughly;

Building cost: US$300mil / one time cost

Rent cost: Market rate – this apartment rent fee = $4,500 - $900 = $3,600/room/month

Therefore, annual costs would be……….

Building cost: US$30mil = US$300mil / 10years depreciation (not real depreciation period, just simplification)

Rent costs: US$12mil = ($4,500 - $900) * 300room * 12month

Total annual cost: US$42mil (=$30 + $12)

US$42mil……………is it too high?

Japanese population is 100mil (very rough)

The annual dormitory cost per person in Japan is about US$0.42 (=$42mil / 100mil)

Now, US$0.42 is expensive? Yes, I think it’s still expensive. But you are not spending this 0.42 dollar just to satisfy lawmakers, are you? You are paying 0.42 dollars to attract talented people, who can bring benefits more than 0.42 dollar with this nice apartment.

Therefore, important thing is not the price of apartment, but whether you can have people to bring you more than value of 0.42 dollar investment. I am sure hosts or commentators of TV shows are not supposed to emphasize just absolute amount of this apartment to increase an average viewer rating, because they have the influence. (i.e. you pay costs of them)

km

king's brunch

When I turned on the TV this morning, I saw one of the 2 MCs at the TV program, King's Branch, was changed.

I was a bit surprised, since I had thought this Saturday morning TV show was doing very well. I mean I thought there was no reason to change MC.

While watching the TV show, I just remember the story of a famous Chinese noodle restaurant in Ogikubo. The restaurant has been thriving for several decades, and called as synonymous with Tokyo style Chinese noodle. Many people have complimented the restaurant that it's been keeping exactly the same its unique taste from its start-up. They have loved such unchanged style and policy.

However, the master of the restaurant confessed that it has not kept its taste of the start-up, but it has always continued changing its taste a bit. He said that if it had not changed its taste as many people assume, they might have got tired of its taste, and not been frequent customers. At the same time, he also said if it had changed the taste a lot, customers might have been away from the restaurant. Therefore, He has always tried his best to change its taste to meet its customers' preference and trend, but not let them recognize such change.

Of cource, it's easy to say, hard to do. I even can not imagine how difficult to do as the restaurant does. You may remember the story of Coca-Cola. I do not know King's Branch will succeed with this change. But one thing I believe is that without change, this TV show might loose its preferred viewers near future.

km

p.s. it's my very first blog