30 and living at home

[HoldingFolding]

I remember when I first moved to Japan I was amazed that a vast majority of all single people live at home - and with a lot of people never getting married that means they may live at home until their parents die. However, if you think that for a graduate just starting out a shoebox existence on pot noodles would cut a swathe through his salary this is the only realistic option. On the other hand the abundance of 'love hotels' means that you don't run into the problem of not having anywhere to take your partner.

Also in reference to another point touched on in this thread, a lot of houses are also 'reformed' so that the parents two storied house will accomodate the son & his family 'downstairs' with a certain amount of privacy. The son's family saves money the aging parents get all the benefits of having their children & grandchildren close by. Although it is often said to lead to friction between the mother & daughter-in-law.