Do people who rent 2300 dollar dresses live in places like this?  Over here the answer is "yes".  In Japan no one visits their friends houses.  The house is your private place.  Although things are changing nowadays, the Japanese prefer to meet at restaurants and socialize there.  Image is a big deal over here so you will often see a rundown apartment like this (nice on the inside though) with a big ass Mercedes or some other fancy car parked outside.  When you go to the restaurant everyone sees your car but the only people who see your house are they neighbours and who cares about them.  Needless to say there wont be a big ass Mercedes parked out in front of this place though.  Not after paying for a 2300 dollar dress (I am sure I will get over this one day).  Anyways, the place is pretty nice inside and there is room out back for a garden (a small one).  It is also close to school which means I can sleep in a bit more than I can now (now I have a 20 minute bike ride to school).