OP addresses that. Japan is not particularly dense, especially outside of core downtowns.

You see the same dynamics in London and Paris.

People do not "prefer to live in dense urban environments" by urbanist standards.

They prefer to live in dense urban environments by North American standards, which can still be far less dense than urbanists really want.

> which can still be far less dense than urbanists really want.

And this was my comparison?

	▲	cmatza 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		May be an assumption on my part, but the language "people prefer to live in dense urban environment" is typical of urbanism-boosters - who definitely push a lot online that leads one to believe that anything less than inner Tokyo is unacceptable.