One trick I learned from Tokyo that helps for understanding any city: when you come across a charming small biz in a sea of generic chains, ask them about their relationship with their landlord. For example, this is the fantastic Alabaster Bookshop, near Union Square in NYC... Alabaster is in a part of town that is, shall we say, "generically bougie." The dining & retail here aren't actively *bad*, but they're generic w/ no history or connection to the neighborhood, interchangeable with every other place, only here b/c a profit loss calculation says so

This is Arfiya Eri, one of my oldest friends, running for an at-large seat in the House of Councillors, the Japanese senate. The first Uyghur election candidate backed by a major party anywhere in the world. Beyond making history, let me tell you a bit about her, what she's like.

https://twitter.com/eri_arfiya/status/1531561068866117633

If you put a gun to my head, asked me who the single most trustworthy human being I know is: I'd say Arfiya. And one of the kindest too! The sort of friend where you can always count on their sheer goodness in the hardest times. To her it's no big deal; just how people should be.

In Tokyo, if you have a two story house in a residential neighborhood, *by right* you can put a restaurant/bar/boutique/workshop inside the ground floor of your house! Gives the backstreets a totally different feel to walking through a US neighborhood with nothing but residences.

https://twitter.com/PaprikaGirl_JP/status/1525320541221306370

Plenty of little economic incentives help you along the way. If you run it as a small biz, you can keep a share of the sales tax you collect, and get income tax breaks. Cheap universal health care means you're not screwed without a 9 to 5 job. Liquor licenses? A minor formality.