Guest Houses Not Just For Gaijin

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]There's a new book out which looks at guest houses around Tokyo. The book says the image of most of these places is that they are aimed at foreigners and backpackers but points out that many Japanese have started to live in such places because of the relatively cheap rent. The author claims he met salarymen, OLs and students as well as an employee of a "famous Roppongi Hills company" all staying in guest houses. The first half of the book features interviews with residents and landlords and compares guest house living with life in a one room mansion. The second half has photos and details of around 270 guest houses in the Tokyo area.

[Captain Japan]

In what is a strange twist with regards to Japan's wacky fudosans, Sakura House used to not allow Japanese. I don't know if that is still true or not.

[Mulboyne]

In what is a strange twist with regards to Japan's wacky fudosans, Sakura House used to not allow Japanese. I don't know if that is still true or not.

I don't know if that is still true at Sakura House but the book mentions that some places do have that policy. The book also contrasts guest house life with manga kissaten life and, by coincidence, this article has popped up today:
SMH: Cyber cafes a refuge for Japan's poor

IN A DINGY backstreet of Ikebukuro, not far from one of Tokyo's busiest commercial and entertainment districts, a handful of young men and women hover near a sign that lights the way to an upstairs internet cafe. It is almost 9pm. That is when Manga Kissa Hiroba opens its paint-chipped doors for discounted all-night stays. Those assembled on the street below, in their 20s and 30s, keep a respectable distance from each other. Most appear well groomed]Independent Life Support Centre[/URL], known as Moyai, scoff at that number, insisting the real figure is vastly higher. "We deal with these type of people more and more," said Moyai spokesman Makoto Yuasa. "The quality of life for their parents' generation was so much better than it is now. Young people are having a much harder time supporting themselves today."

[EDIT: The journalist probably got the idea from this article which the Mainichi summarizes:]

Internet cafes: shelters for Japan's 21st century lumpenproletariat

"Over the past two or three years, the number of people living out of net cafes has been growing," "Akira," an employee at an Internet Cafe in Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku, tells weekly Playboy (3/12). "If we get 40 customers a night we'll turn a profit, but I'd say about half of them are 'regulars' who camp out there." According to a source familiar with operation of the cafes, these not-so-happy campers flock there to take advantage of discounted late-night rates, called a "night package." They might as well, since in many instances they have nowhere else to go...more...

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Shoestring traveler ups batting average at short-term guest house

Travelers in Japan in search of inexpensive, short-term lodgings often turn to institutions called "guest houses." Such abodes, which charge as little as 2,000 yen a night for a place to flop, appear to be in particularly wide use on Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa...And so it came to pass that Goro Ohminami, a 25-year-old freelance worker from Osaka, saved up enough money for a two-month sojourn. And, as Uramono Japan (April) reports, he turned out to be a happy camper indeed. The co-educational nature of the lodgings and generally casual atmosphere, it seems, prove exceptionally conducive to getting laid..."I'd stayed in guest houses all over mainland Japan, in Hokkaido and Nagano for instance, on any number of occasions, but there's nothing like Okinawa," Ohminami gushes to Uramono Japan...more...

[Mulboyne]

Various clips of foreigners and Japanese living in "Gaikokujin Houses". Mostly featuring the same place. Annoying joint J/E audio in the first one:

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[YT]MMSMkItERX8[/YT]

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[YT]DMj-Kik8CDc[/YT]

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: 5,400 living in Net cafes

About 5,400 people with no place to call home live in Internet cafes, with those in their 20s making up the largest age group, a labor ministry survey showed Tuesday. The nationwide survey, the government's first focusing on so-called Net cafe refugees, indicates that the situation for the working poor is worsening, especially among young people. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare surveyed managers and clerks of about 3,200 Internet cafes and manga kissa (comic book cafes) across the nation that operate around the clock. The results showed that on a daily basis, about 60,900 people use such places as overnight shelters, and 7.8 percent of them, or about 4,700, stayed at the cafes because they had no homes. The ministry defined Net cafe refugees as those with no fixed address who stay overnight at Internet cafes for more than half the week. Based on the survey results, the ministry estimates that about 5,400 people can be categorized as Net cafe refugees. Half of the Net cafe refugees, or about 2,700 people, were temporary staff workers, day laborers or held other "nonregular" jobs, the survey showed. About 300 refugees were regular employees, and about 1,300 were unemployed...more...

[Catoneinutica]

Which blogger was it who who tried sleeping in one and couldn't because of the acrid cigarette haze and the sounds of guys masturbating?

[omae mona]

Which blogger was it who who tried sleeping in one and couldn't because of the acrid cigarette haze and the sounds of guys masturbating?

No clue about the blogger. But I might know who was smoking the cigarettes and masturbating.

[Iraira]

No clue about the blogger. But I might know who was smoking the cigarettes and masturbating.

You know someone who masturbates? Isn't that a sin? Or is it only a sin if you are caught on video masturbating with a rubber chicken?

[Mulboyne]

AP: Help offered to Japan's Internet cafe homeless

Japan on Friday opened a support centre for "Internet cafe refugees" to help the growing number of cash-strapped young people who virtually live in all-night Internet lounges...In the first action to help them, the [Labour] ministry and the Tokyo government set up a support centre called Tokyo Challenge Net in the bustling district of Shinjuku. The centre will provide loans of up to 200,000 yen (1,900 dollars) for living expenses and 400,000 for rent while giving advice on how to save money and secure a place to live. Those asking for help will also receive information on medical care and job seeking, the labour ministry said. The centre has already received numerous inquiries with its advisors fully booked with appointments for the next three days, said Tokyo government welfare official Isao Matsumoto...more...