This article discusses common points and differences while comparing three cases that appeared in cities in modern East Asia (Northeast Asia / Southeast Asia). First, in the late 19th century during the formation of a modern city, the shopouse was built. The shophouse was born in the 1820s by city planning conducted by T.Raffles in Singapore. Shophouse, which began as a typical colonial architecture, eventually spread to independent countries in East Asia. In Japan, the same style appeared in the Ginza brick district, but it was not a product of colonialism, but was strongly oriented towards modernization. However, shop houses did not spread to cities in Japan, and a new urban landscape was created while modernizing the style of traditional cities. In Bangkok, the shophouse was built in various places in the king"s led modernization policy. Although it is modeled on colonial city Singapore and Batavia, it can be said that it is the result of a subjective modernization policy. Introduction of the shophouse as a nationalist modernization policy was also seen in China, “qilou (騎楼)” was born. It originated in Hong Kong which was a British colony, eventually Zhang Zhidong 張之洞, a Western-style bureaucrat also introduced to Guangzhou, then spread to each city in southern China. Second, department stores were the symbol of consumption culture showing the transformation to modern cities in the first half of the 20th century. In Seoul, Keijo Mitsukoshi etc. were born and had functions as a recreation area with facilities such as large restaurants, fairgrounds, galleries and rooftop gardens. This is a style introduced in Japan, Mitsukoshi issued the “department store declaration”, followed by Japanesestyle department stores that have amusement facilities and enjoyed from adults to kids were born one after another. Similar phenomena also appeared in semi-colony China. Shanghai Yong-an Co., Ltd. has not only stores but restaurants, inns, billiards, dance halls, etc. as a recreation area, similar cases were seen in Tianjin and Beijing. Besides department stores, contemporary urban spaces such as dance halls, cafes, movie theaters, etc. spread in the East Asian cities of the 1920’s and 30’s. Department stores in East Asia had different characteristics from the West. Besides department stores, contemporary urban spaces such as dance halls, cafes, movie theaters, etc. spread in the East Asian cities of the 1920’s and 30’s. However, we should not evaluate only aspects of “development” and “modernization” hastily, and consider its multifaceted elements. Third, a case symbolizing the maturity of modern cities in the second half of the 20th century is the housing policy. Seoul forcibly removed the squatter, and the construction of a new city such as Seongnam 城南 (1973), Gwacheon 果川 (1986), Mokdong 木洞(1989) was promoted by the government and Public authority. The circumstances are different in China, and under the planned economy, state enterprises and others have provided everything from public services to daily necessities. When it became a socialist market economy after the 1990s, the construction of residential complexes progressed by private-sector developers led by the government. In Japan, unlike these, households of the middle class prefer a independent housing, and smallscale single-family homes of modern style increased by receiving loans such as Housing Loan Corporation (1950). In this way, in modern East Asian cities, although the contents and landscape are different, housing construction and urbanization have been promptly promoted on a policy basis.