Japan Capsule Hotel Room, 6.5 ft. long X 5 ft. wide, $640 a month = a "relatively affordable option"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

What a Suite Deal! Recession Forces Permanent Residencies At Japanese Capsule Hotel
By Nicole Belle Monday Jan 04, 2010 4:00pm

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/what-suite-deal-recession-forces-perm



(h/t Mike at BAGnewsNotes) NY Times:

When Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 opened nearly two decades ago, Japan was just beginning to pull back from its bubble economy, and the hotel’s tiny plastic cubicles offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home.

Now, Hotel Shinjuku 510’s capsules, no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, have become an affordable option for some people with nowhere else to go as Japan endures its worst recession since World War II.

Once-booming exporters laid off workers en masse in 2009 as the global economic crisis pushed down demand. Many of the newly unemployed, forced from their company-sponsored housing or unable to make rent, have become homeless.

Those little cubbies--hardly bigger than the crate in which my lab sleeps--don't come cheap. According to the article, the upper cubbie costs the equivalent of $640 a month. Ouch. And that's an relatively affordable option.

Still, it is a bleak world where deep sleep is rare. The capsules do not have doors, only screens that pull down. Every bump of the shoulder on the plastic walls, every muffled cough, echoes loudly through the rows.

Each capsule is furnished only with a light, a small TV with earphones, coat hooks, a thin blanket and a hard pillow of rice husks.

Most possessions, from shirts to shaving cream, must be kept in lockers. There is a common room with old couches, a dining area and rows of sinks. Cigarette smoke is everywhere, as are security cameras. But the hotel staff does its best to put guests at ease: “Welcome home,” employees say at the entrance.

“Our main clients used to be salarymen who were out drinking and missed the last train,” said Tetsuya Akasako, head manager at the hotel.

[JI7]

1. can non japanese citizens rent those ?

it seems like a good option for those who want to travel and spend some time there. i would stay at one of those if i could.

[JI7]

2. can non japanese citizens rent those ?

it seems like a good option for those who want to travel and spend some time there. i would stay at one of those if i could.

[d_r]

3. Tokyo is cold in winter

it beats homelessness.

I remember someone telling me at one point that if you put a $100 bill on the ground, the amount of ground it covered would be worth more than the money. This has been years ago.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Make them slightly smaller and they can be used for air travel.

You crawl in to your box, they tranc you, and then haul the box into the plane.

When you wake up, the box is at the destination.

[endless october]

5. sounds like the short story "The Jaunt."

just don't go through awake......

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. Like the 5th element?