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Living In Tokyo's Capsule Hotels
afabbro writes "Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 once offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home. Now with Japan enduring its worst recession since World War II, it is becoming an affordable option for people with nowhere else to go. The Hotel 510’s capsules are only 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide. Guests must keep possessions, like shirts and shaving cream, in lockers outside of the capsules. Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas says, 'It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep. You get used to it.'”
Every one of these that I've seen were single occupant only, and men/women had completely separate wings of the building at least, or often entirely separate floors. For double occupancy, there's plenty of "love hotels" to be found. :)
I've found that nurturing one's Zen nature is vital to dealing with technology. Violence is pretty damn useful too.
I wonder if Westerners are accepted at these places?
As with all things in Japan, it depends. Westerners will be allowed in if they satisfy the requirements posted on the wall at the reception area. In most cases, anyone with tattoos will be barred entry (since tattoos == yakuza in japan).
Also, most capsule hotels are exclusively for men because it reduces the risk of rape (versus co-ed). There are one or two capsule hotels in Tokyo that I could find that are exclusively for women, but since the whole point of a capsule hotel is to provide a place for a salaryman (read: regular joe schmoe employee) to catch some sleep after a night of drinking and missing his last train home, it doesn't often happen that a woman would *need* to stay in a capsule hotel. Especially since Japanese society still largely encourages women to abandon their careers once they have children. And, as we all know, Japanese women are expected to be baby making machines , so *not* having children isn't really seen as an option.
Disclaimer: I lived in (albeit rural) Japan from 2005-2007, and I'm female. I looked for capsule hotels when I was there, and there were few that would accept me. My views on women's rights and societal expectations in Japan may be somewhat biased by my small-town life there, as even in Canada small-town women get exposed to fewer options and seemingly have fewer acceptable life choices than those in major cities.
The things cost about $640 a month. That's better than a hotel, but still a pretty brutal monthly expense.
Qxe4
For those who don't know, "yakuza" is the Japanese term for mafia or organized crime.
Even high end spas in the countryside accept westeners with discreet(ish) tattoos. Yes, the official policy is still "100% tattoo ban", but it's not enforced. Hell, some places even let Yakuza in, but maybe those are not the finest of establishments.
On a topic more related to OP: The capsule hotels are not that bad, especially since you have washing facilities and good security. Also, if you have a capsule hotel where you can make a deal not to be thrown out every morning with all your belongings, which is what usually happens, and if you can make it a permanent address for jobseeking purposes, it becomes a downright awesome option for people on the way down or early on their way up.
Actually the number of smokers has dropped precipitously in the last 10 years. When did you go? When I first went in 2001 it was everywhere, unavoidable. Every restaurant was billowing clouds. On the last of four trips, it was practically nonexistent in comparison. No smoking on the JR trains, hardly any smoke in the restaurants. There has been a large campaign against smoking in public.
Except that to get an apartment, you have to pay a ridiculously large bribe called "key money" to secure the apartment, equivalent to a bunch of month's worth of rent. It's probably this that is keeping people at the capsule hotel that has a similar monthly expense to a tiny studio walk up.
In Tokyo people use trains to get to and from work because parking is likely to cost you more than rent if you are paying for two parking spaces(one at home and one near the office). Also working past midnight is not uncommon, when the trains aren't running your options are sleep in the office or go to a hotel. Also note that Tokyo is a pretty big area, and you can still be in Tokyo and have an hour and a half commute(one way) to the office I did for 5 years(in fact a commute under an hour is pretty uncommon). If you want to live anywhere near where you work you are not going to be paying $850 unless it's seriously run down or it's like 5 feet * 8 feet, I paid almost that for the small place(old, clean, but very thin walls) I rented in a cheap area far outside of the main business districts in Tokyo. Anyway capsule hotels are not a replacement for an apartment, they are somewhere to stay cheap when you can't get home.
According to Mercer's surveys, Tokyo has the highest cost of living of any city in the world. LA is #23, up from 55 last year.
Stuttgart doesn't even make the list.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
But in japan, moving into a new place requires between 4-6 months rent in deposits, key money, gifts to the landlord/realtor, etc. It's pretty horrific.
Less, It is possible to get a one-room apartment for around $600, including a mini-kitchen and bath of course, even in the center part of the city (at least in the "bad", but interesting parts like Ikebukuro. Maybe a bit difficult to find if you are a foreigner (most foreign-rental agencies are scammers).
True. I was Air Force. Hardship duty for Air Force was the equivalent of a Hilton for the other services. But if you had some brains and were a masochist, joining the other services you could get to NCO ranks much faster and the extra pay it entailed (not much) plus the extra responsibility (tons).
Our founding fathers removed the guys in charge. Be American. Vote incumbents out.
$640 a month? I doubt that'd get you anything in NYC.
It would in the skeevier parts of the city. My rent's $850 (though I split with a roommate) for an approx 200sqft studio in Harlem, but that's cause I'm in a great building close to campus. Rents go down to about $600 for studios in parts of the neighborhood.
open source modern art: laser taggi
In the West there are all sorts of protection for people who are unemployed. Employment insurance, welfare, etc. Even in the US.
I haven't spent all that much time in Japan but have heard enough about it and have visited there enough to know that being out of work is far more disastrous than it would be in our countries. Not only would you be homeless, but you'd have no protection whatsoever (hence the homeless part) and you'd also have to deal with a great amount of shame from both your family, your compatriots and the greater society at large. That is why, in a decent economy, Japanese employers really shy away from firing people unless absolutely necessary. Why do you think Japan has the highest suicide rate in the entire world? Many people throw themselves infront of a train when they lose their job.
The times are a-changin'.