Asian+Studies+Final+Joe

Apartments in Korea, China, and Japan

Apartments in East Asian have become a big part of how people live. The efficient and low cost buildings that can house many people at a time are now very popular. While many places such as in Europe and places in America see apartments as a place for the less fortunate, it is the almost the exact opposite in East Asia.

**Korea**

Tower blocks, tall buildings typically used as an office or residential building, have been built rapidly in South Korea after the Korean War. The South Korean government needed to build many residential tower blocks so that citizens would have a place to stay. The early tower blocks in South Korea were fairly cheap and built quickly. As the years progressed and the population increased, they have become more and more common and are being built with a more luxurious taste. Apartments are even being combined with shopping malls, convenient stores, recreational facilities, parking lots, and other such things.

South Korean apartments have very small kitchens and dining rooms with a few bedrooms and a living room. Apartments in South Korea are mostly for family use and not for entertainment, that is why there are no dining rooms and the tables in which people eat are very small. Apartments are typically built with hard floors, either wood or plastic, and have low ceilings. Koreans typically sleep on beds but elderly people like to sleep on hard mattresses.

Bathrooms are usually built with a drain somewhere on the floor making it very easy to clean. All you have to do is take your hand held shower head and spray your entire bathroom, and it is clean. South Korean apartments also have their toilets and showers in the same room. Korean bathrooms typically have plastic or tile floors and have no windows.

= Japan =

Although Japan consists mostly of small houses, there are some people that live in apartments such as in major cities and similar places. Unlike Korea, Japanese apartments are about 2-5 stories high.

Japanese apartments are very small and each bed room is just a little over 100 sq. feet. Japanese apartments do not have common dressers, vanities, or end tables that many other countries would have. Some furnishings that can be found in Japanese apartments are bookcases, cookware and utensils, a small refrigerator, an air conditioner, a heater, and a washing machine. Japanese people usually sleep on tatami mats which are heated on the floor. Some modern apartments have beds, but they are very low to the floor. Kitchens are also very small, blenders, mixers, garbage disposals, and dishwashers are extremely rare in Japan. Kitchens are usually always tiled, while bedrooms have tatami mats, and the rest of the apartment have laminated wood floors. Most apartments do not use central air, instead they use airconditioners that are connected to the wall. Japanese bathrooms are in a way, similar to Korean bathrooms in apartments. Most Japanese bathrooms have the toilet and shower/bath in different rooms, but in more modern apartments, they are being combined into one room to save space. Traditional Japanese apartments have a "squatter" instead of a western styled toilet, but more modern apartments are switching to western styled toilets.

China



In order to house the extremely large population of China, tower blocks have become more and more common. With buildings ranging from twenty to forty stories on average, it is no surprise China has a large population.

An average single/couple-Chinese apartment consists of a small living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The living room can be turned into any sort of things, such as a place with a couch and t.v., a study, etc...Many apartments do not have kitchens, instead they have small appliances located around the room. The two pictures below make only the living room. As you can see, it is very small. Unlike Japan, and similar to Korea, the Chinese sleep on beds. Chinese apartments are usually made up of all tiles or the fake plastic tiles. There is not a lot of hardwood floors or carpeting.



Along with Japan and Korea, most Chinese apartments do not have dryer machines. This means that to dry close, people most hang their clothes on drying racks or clothe lines. Chinese bathrooms are very small, just like in Korean and Japanese bathrooms. The toilet is in the same room as the shower as well as the washer machine and a sink. The shower head is right next to the toilet and right next to the washer machine.

= Work Cited =

 //ac//. //All about teaching English in Japan//. Web. 1 Jan. .  //apartment//. //All about teaching English in Japan//. Web. 1 Jan. .   Jenius,. //japanroom//. Web. 11 June 2011. .  Marcopolis,. //Koreatyp01//. 2007. //Wikipedia//. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. "Kyle's Chinese Apartment." Apr. 2002. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. //Living Room//. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. //PseudoKitchen//. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. //MyBedroom//. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. //Bathroom//. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. . Reed, Kyle. //BeautifulSkyline//. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. . //squater//. //All about teaching English in Japan//. Web. 1 Jan. . "Tatami." //Wikipedia//. 28 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami>. "The Basics on What You Can Expect of Your Japanese Apartment." //All about teaching English in Japan//. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://www.all-about-teaching-english-in-japan.com/Japaneseapartment.html>. "Tower Block." //PediaView//. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Tower_block>.

<span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;">"Tower Block." //Wikipedia//. 11 June 2011. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_block#East_Asia>.

<span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> **Asian Studies Final Project Self-Evaluation** <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> Everything. <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> Using pictures and examples of each apartment helped convey my research. <span style="font-family: times,helvetica;"> It is difficult to find things about this topic because when you search anything with apartments in google, you get available apartments to rent and not really any good information about them. <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> The pictures are very helpful to see what I am writing about making it easier to read. <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> A clearer understanding of wikispaces. Something is being completely messed up with this. I knew quite a bit about Korean apartments because I live in Korea and stay at friends houses and stuff, but everything I wrote about for Japanese and Chinese apartments is new knowledge to me. I think this project wasn't as interesting as the ant farm, but it was a great way to learn about my topic in other countries.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> What did you contribute specifically to your project?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> How successful do you think you conveyed your research to your audience?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> What would have made your presentation more successful?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> How successful do you think your technology-based materials were in conveying your research?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> What would have made your technology-based materials more successful?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: times,helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> What did you learn from this project? Submit any other comments after this question.