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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/🧵

A hundred years ago it was completely normal for American buildings to allow both commercial and residential uses - even in the smallest towns. For example, this is a ~1920 example from Keystone, West Virginia, population 176. Offices on the first floor, apartments above. 2/

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/

A century ago, Boyle Heights in LA had working-class Jews, Japanese and Mexicans; the Lower East Side in NYC had poor Italians, Irish, Jews and Chinese. You can bet that the city council didn't try to ban factories there! (pic: the old Breed Street Synagogue in LA, now vacant) 6/