An investigation by a non-government organisation has found that illegal share houses may be operating in as many as 100 buildings in Tokyo. In many cases, commercial offices and apartments have been split into tiny sleeping spaces as small as 2.4 ~ 5.2 sqm (26 ~ 56 sqft). Many of the sleeping spaces have ceiling heights of just 1.2 meters and do not have windows or proper ventilation.

There are concerns over the safety of tenants in these share houses as they may violate the Building Standards Act and fire safety regulations. The Act requires ceiling heights to be a minimum of 2.1 meters and rooms are required to have a minimum floor area of 7 sqm (75 sqft).

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