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Really excellent article by @ad-mastro.bsky.social on how Japan's tiny businesses are a product of the country's loose business regulations and zoning laws. I also want to add historical context to this: these types of businesses used to be the norm in America before zoning came along. 1/🧵

This loose regulation also enabled the worst excesses of the tenement era. For example, these are cigarmakers rolling cigars in their homes in the late 1880s in New York City. This is full-on industrial production. It's a far cry from the type of remote email jobs you see today. 3/

Part of the reaction to these horrific tenement conditions was to physically separate industrial, residential and commercial uses by establishing zoning laws, which is the norm today in America. 4/

Racism also played a part. City councils would separate residential, commercial and industrial in rich, white neighborhoods, but nobody gave give a damn if poor people or minorities had to live next to factories and other businesses. 5/