[Quixote]

The trees, little pocket parks, well-kept streets, designated pedestrian lanes, and tight grid make it attractive.

The cheap food and walkability is a function of the small storefronts. You'd likely lose some of this with newer, more polished-looking buildings because newer developments tend to have larger footprints and charge more commercial spaces — doubly so, because the space is more attractive and the developer has reduced overall market inventory.

The flip side is because the land and COL are quite expensive (from even the Japanese perspective), there's an incentive to build taller, and more density should theoretically reduce housing costs and result in demand for more amenities. Business owners reap higher profit margins from increasing food/drink prices because of the greater demand, while stronger competition keeps those prices in check and improves the quality of products and services.

From what I'm seeing of the newer developments, buildings are being set back to create elevated sidewalks. The streets still retain only one traffic lane. But what they should really do is continue building arcades at ground level. That maximizes/preserves the current density and creates sidewalks that provide shelter from the frequent rain.