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Capsule Apartments

January 3rd, 2010

This story is really depressing: a capsule hotel converted into an apartment building. I thought it was bad to stay overnight in a capsule hotel; imagine living in one. I suppose that it is an alternative for those who really, really need to live in Shinjuku, have few or no possessions, and are on an incredibly tight budget. The ¥59,000 rent includes utilities (it would have to, when you think about it), and there’s no shiki-kin (deposit) or reikin (gift money) which some people may not be able to put up all at one time. And it is better than being homeless (depending on your tastes, I suppose).

For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo’s decrepit “capsule” hotels.

“It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep,” he said, rolling his neck and stroking his black suit — one of just two he owns after discarding the rest of his wardrobe for lack of space. “You get used to it.” …

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. …

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.

First Freeters, then stays at Internet Cafes, now this. Yikes.

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  1. Troy
    January 3rd, 2010 at 17:13 | #1

    Ear plugs.

    Y59,000 still seems kinda high. Charging what the market will bear I guess. Y2000 beats being out in the cold.

    http://realestate.yahoo.co.jp/

    says there are 600,000 rental properties available in the Kanto region.

    With the population getting older and moving off into homes (or back into a family member’s house) and in the nation in actual demographic decline one would think housing would begin to open up and serious deflation set in, returning land values to the pre-boom 80s eventually.

    Kanto land is still in relative demand, the closer to the center the better the land will hold its value, but land values will continue to bleed out as the inaka becomes an uneconomical wasteland. Even your old place out in Tama should be cheaper now than it was when you were there, perhaps. The growth of the 20th century was quite amazing but took place in a space and time that no longer exists.

    Japanese labor can’t compete with China. Japanese R&D has to go against Indian and Chinese R&D. If it were just Japan vs. the Little Tigers like it was in the 70s and 80s, it’d have a chance, but this is like 30:1 odds.

    Japan depopulating is the best thing that can happen. More work for the women, increasing household earnings and retaining the reasonably nice Japanese standard of living.

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