Tokyo apartments are infamous for their tiny size and comparatively high rents. Landlords will do what they can to squeeze as much money as possible out of a miniscule space by playing interior design Tetris with the bare minimum facilities.

It’s fairly normal for a whole apartment to be just one room for sleeping, eating, cooking and relaxing, then the toilet and bath will be in a cupboard-sized separate room. Since these very basic rooms are considered the norm, when pushing the boundaries, property developers can really take it to an outrageous level.

The best of these ridiculous designs are ironically celebrated on twitter by using the hashtag 'Worst Property of the Year 2017' (#クソ物件オブザイヤー2017). Although the floor plans can be easily faked (some of the examples come from this satirical estate agents’ website), we can only assume the ones with photo evidence are horrifically real.

Rather than a "traditional" bathroom with like, walls, this ultra-modern apartment makes great use of the space by simply placing the toilet in a random spot and surrounding it with a handy curtain for privacy. Problem solved.

The balcony (on the upper left side of the floor plan) is blocked by the stove and sink. The disclaimer at the bottom states that the balcony is for decorative purposes only. Glad they cleared that up for us.

This is a kitchen belonging to one poor Japanese soul. A sink and one lonely IH stove.

Both of the above tweets show a worrying trend for stray toilets in places you don't expect. In the entrance to the apartment or right next to your kitchen sink, which is more unbearable?

That shape looks familiar...Illuminati is that you?

With a shower/bathtub combo on the veranda, this property is one for the exhibitionists.

This one isn't a design fail, but the Twitter user's attention was caught by the ominous request at the top of the apartment's advert: 'those with a strong ability to sense ghosts need not apply'...

The above two are definitely fakes from the aforementioned satirical site, but considering the others we've seen, is it actually that unbelievable?

Check out the Twitter of Peter Durfee, who has some hilarious English language commentary on the topic, or just take a look at the hashtag '#クソ物件オブザイヤー2017' if you're hungry for more bizarre floor plans. Although looking at the toilet next to the kitchen, I'll probably never be hungry again.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.