I got the feeling it has to do with rent and taxes, owning your own establishment helps. Being able to keep open even with few customers would drain all your resources within the same year in my city, but you hear these stories of businesses keeping open in Japan with prime real estate just because. I like that a lot, instead of the “everything is a chain” where I live.

Im not sure why real estate moguls don’t have a field day, buying everything they see. Anyone knows? Is it the earthquakes and tsunamis? Exponential taxes on owning several properties?