Whereas in games like Pharaoh, they were designed so that you had to have many things within a certain (close, but not too close) distance of your population in order for your people to be happy and avoid crime, fires, etc. Zoning is non-existent. This is much closer to how planning permission works in my country - there's no specific zoning (though you're unlikely to get planning permission to put an industrial estate in a city centre), and people enjoy having shops etc nearby.
Yep, Japan is much more like Pharaoh than Sim City. If is probably my favorite aspect of living here. Living on the periphery of Tokyo we pay 900$/m for a 2.5 room and have more train stations, restaurants, shops, hospitals and parks nearby than any other residential place I've seen outside of Japan.
