Japan is famous for its toilets. That reputation can stick, although they aren’t by any means cheap. Maybe 6x what you’d pay for a standard toilet in NZ for one with all the bells and whistles.

The bathroom is really nice. With a bath that keeps the water warm that you can preset, and even use the waste water in the washing machine (you usually wash your body entirely before getting in the bath, so the dirt technically is off before you get in).

Probably also heat pumps, or aircon deserves a mention. Although there’s not much special about it besides cost performance I guess.

Then of course Japanese style rooms, you can’t get any better than in Japan, this ones pretty obvious.

Things that NZ do better are showers as opposed to bathrooms, lighting, aesthetics, kitchens, and garages in general. This is probably because there is more demand for them in NZ, rather than here in the countryside.

The internal access garage I’m still surprised by, it’s not the norm here in snow country, which just baffles me. Everyone parks outside and the majority of people have a car port. I think cost may come into it, because garages count towards the building size, and that means there’s more tax involved. But for the convenience, it’s more than likely worth it.

For the kitchens, NZ is much better. So much more choice, and things like dishwashers are so normal that they’re quite efficient and have good cost performance. Our dishwasher was expensive, and it’s not even that big. Smartfridges also, I’m yet to see one in Japan even at a shop.

Just a few notes after two nights living in a brand new Japanese house which I love!