Artist's commentary
Hang in There, Kogasa-san 3720
There's height restrictions and such as well, so houses can only be built up to 10-12m tall. Together with the various setback-line limits, it was like a third story was just out of the question in our case. Even on a lot with an FSI of 80%, we had the option of a basement level, which could make a house with a 120% total FSI, but it would've taken a massive budget, so it wasn't possible.
I hear it's even rougher in places like Kyoto that have scenery ordinances, where they've also got exterior appearance restrictions.