This article comes from the WeChat public account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly), author: Cooper, Word problems from: PulitzerCenter

“I ran to escape reality.”

On social media, some netizens lament the troubles of life. The destination he fled to was a Japanese internet cafe.

In Japan, there is a huge group of “Internet cafe residents”. Tens of thousands of adults spend the day and night in Internet cafes, and those narrow cubicles are considered a good place to avoid stress and escape from reality.

△Aya and her mother lost their homes in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake, and lived in an internet cafe/ video screenshot

According to a survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, approximately 15,300 people stay overnight in simple houses such as Internet cafes, manga coffee shops, and capsule hotels that are open 24 hours a day during working days in Tokyo.

This figure is only for 2016.

First, the hidden corners of the city, the Japanese are online cafes

Unlike general impressions,Japanese internet cafes are not hidden in the dark corners of urban blind spots.

It is not difficult to find an internet cafe on the streets of Tokyo. From the Shinjuku station, there are at least four Internet cafes waving to you in different directions. The nearest one of them only takes one minute to walk.

The documentary “Lost in Manboo” records the stories in those cubicles. The internet cafe “Manboo” from the film is a chain of internet cafe brands in Japan. Manboo currently has 49 stores in Japan, including 16 in Tokyo.

Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya, as long as you want to find it, you can always find it.

△Japanese Internet Cafe/ Video Screenshot

The “Internet cafe” in Japan is not actually called an Internet cafe.

“Comic Coffee Shop” is its most authentic and authentic name. まんが吃茶(Comic coffee shop) or インターネットカフェ(Internet cafes, Internet coffee shops ) is a more commonly used word.

The comic coffee shop, as the name suggests, was originally intended to satisfy comics. ザ・マガジン in Nagoya, regarded as the first ancestral shop of Manga, is the first in Japan. Around 1975, comic coffee shops began to appear in Nagoya and Okinawa.

△Internet cafes still provide comics/ Booking

In the mid-1990s, the Internet debuted. In the millennium, broadband became widespread, and the services provided by comic coffee shops gradually became more diverse.

“That’s a place where you can enjoy reading comics.” Now if you go to a Japanese internet cafe, of course, you can still turn the comics casually and watch one at a time. But today the focus of consumer spending is no longer the comics on the shelf.

To spend the night in life is the most realistic need for adults who are dormant in a four square meter grid.

The 39-year-old webmaster Masata is a serious social fear. Fear of contact with people and bad relations with neighbors, I have lived in an Internet cafe for two years.

All the work is done in it. I’ll eat instant noodles when I’m hungry. “This place is isolated from the world. I don’t need to see anyone.”

△Masata has lived in an internet cafe for two years/ video screenshot

Hitomi, 23 years old, nightclub girl.

At the age of 16, her parents drove her out of the house on the grounds of growing up. “I can’t seem to have dreams and plans, it’s good to be alive.” When not in the room, Hitomi brushed the phone with cigarette in one hand.

In the future, she hopes to learn a craft and become a real masseuse. She said that at that time, she should be happy.

△Hitomi wants to have personal space, but does not want to be alone/ Video screenshot

Yumi worked as a security guard at the construction site. She also planned to find an apartment at the beginning, but because she could not afford the rent, she ended up in an internet cafe.

Don’t worry about water and electricity bills and property bills. Although Yu Mi’s income is enough to meet the living expenses of Internet cafes, she still can’t save money.

26 years old, he is looking forward to finding a stable job.

△A security guard who can’t afford a house/PulitzerCenter

Takayuki Sakai worked in a credit card company before and was an office worker who had worked for 20 years. Working day and night, overtime is as long as working time.

He was diagnosed with depression by the doctor and took a month of sick leave to cultivate. After returning, the gossip continued, the leaders ignored, and the salary never rose again.

After resigning, Sakai has lived in an Internet cafe.

△Sakai in the/PulitzerCenter

Internet cafe refugees“, the Japanese media has created proper nouns to describe such a group of people.

At the end of the 1990s, the phenomenon of refugees in Internet cafes began to emerge. After 2000, the local phenomenon that once became a huge social problem.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government survey, 98% of Internet cafe refugees are men, and 87% are still working. Most of them earn income in the form of odd jobs and dispatched labor. They often sign short-term contracts and get what they get. The salary is only half of the full-time employees.

△The living conditions of temporary workers in Japan are very difficult/ video screenshot

The main reason for choosing to live in an Internet cafe for a long time is “cannot pay rent after resigning from the company (32.9%)“, “Resign After moving out of the staff dormitory (21%)” and “the relationship with family members deteriorated (13.3%)” followed.


Second, all refugees? People who live in Internet cafes are not necessarily miserable

“The people who live here are eliminated by the society, and the people who use this as a nest are all garbage.”

In the Japanese drama “The Counterattack of a Woman Selling a House”, the heroine Sanxuan Wanzhi summed up so “cautiously”.

Although it sounds exaggerated, in fact, Japanese society does have a relatively negative view of Internet cafe guests. Speaking of live Internet cafes, poor, disgusting, and secretly despising is a common reaction among Japanese people.

△People’s views on Internet cafe guests are generally negative./ Video screenshot

And internet cafe guests often appear in film and television dramas with nothing to do.

Girls who are reluctant to accept the fact that their boyfriends change their minds, site workers who earn daily wages, and stubborn old ladies who are afraid of loneliness, all kinds of “scum” gather here to share a stagnant life.

In the eyes of Sanxuan Family Wisdom, these people are giant babies who evade reality. They refuse to work hard and have no future.

△ Most Internet cafe guests appear in a downcast image/Video screenshot

In the counterattack of a woman who sells a house, a monologue by the stubborn old lady speaks of the despair of the Internet cafes: “Those who can’t work hard today will be tomorrow.It will come. Life continues like this, so humans will suffer.

Not everyone is like you, beautiful and talented, entered a good company, took a good salary, and lived a confident life”.

Efforts have no results, struggling but no way out, is the taste of the victory team in life can not feel the same.

△She thinks that the world needs a gathering place for homeless people/ Video screenshot

It is undeniable that most people living in Internet cafes are forced to help. But to say that all the refugees are overdone. In fact, there are some people who choose to live in Internet cafes.

Hagi, who followed the documentary “Life in Japan’s Smallest Rooms”, is one of them.

It’s not homeless, and it’s not without jobs. Hagi, 31, is a software engineer working for an IT company in Tokyo.

△Hagi did not live in an internet cafe because of life constraints/ Video screenshot

Because he didn’t want to endure the pain of squeezing the subway, Internet cafes became a transit point connecting his work and life.

From home to downtown Tokyo, commuting time will take two hours. Living in an Internet cafe on weekdays and returning home on weekends has become a fixed model.

There are more than 200 days of internet cafes in a year, and the “experience” of accommodation is up to 5 years, but Hagi never thinks that internet cafes are another home. He sees himself as a temporary resident in an Internet cafe in Tokyo.

△He considers himself a temporary resident of an Internet cafe/Video screenshot

A backpack and a suitcase are all equipment.

For him, availability is the biggest advantage of Internet cafes. There is no need to look for it, there are Internet cafes near every site in the city. “You can quickly connect to work the next day.”

(Internet cafe) This lifestyle is not suitable for everyone, but I am like a fish here. I can live here for five years , Also because I feel very comfortable here.”

△Hagi enjoys his life in an internet cafe//Video screenshot

There are also difficult times in the free internet cafe life. The epidemic was the closest dark memory.

The area where Internet cafes are locatedThere are many foreign tourists in the region, and the grid rooms in the Internet cafes are not fully enclosed. Buying a whole lot of nutritious foods and shutting yourself in for a whole week, during that time, said not to be afraid is deceiving.

Under such circumstances, Internet cafes are indeed not a good place. But when asked if he would recommend someone to live in an Internet cafe in the future, Hagi gave a positive answer.

△He firmly believes that Internet cafes have a good side/ Video screenshot

Suffocating work, a crowded morning rush, in Hagi’s opinion, the Japanese are always busy complaining, but rarely make changes.

“My life has thus improved. The evidence is already in front of me, why not?”

He believes that Internet cafes can solve these problems.

△Hagi believes that Internet cafes can improve the lives of some people/ Video screenshots

Three, the more beautiful the Internet cafes are becoming the punch points for tourists

Today, Internet cafes have long left their original meaning of “man cafe”. To exaggerate, even the presence of the network itself is blurred.melted. “People use it as a residence.”

In fact, not only Japanese people regard Internet cafes as safe havens, but also tourists. Traveling abroad, staying in an internet cafe? In terms of courage and imagination, Japanese people are not necessarily better than foreign tourists.

Some tourists will directly treat Internet cafes as cheap hotels. Internet cafes near high-speed rail stations are often their first choice.

△Japanese Internet cafes have also attracted interest from foreign bloggers visiting stores//Video screenshots

It is so-called penny for goods. The price is there, and the configuration of internet cafes will not be so high.

A table, a computer, half a single bed, and four square meters of space are all the room. Internet cafe rooms seem independent, but not private.

Because there is no ceiling, every move around the next door can be heard. Keyboard sounds, speaking sounds, snoring sounds are as clear as in my ears. Moreover, Internet cafes are not allowed to lock the door.

△The room cannot isolate the sound of the outside world/ Video screenshot

Basically, all Internet cafes in Japan are equipped with bathrooms, and some even have hot springs and saunas.

If you want to use the bathroom, you need to give the room card and key to the staffAnd then they will give you shampoo and conditioner. But location is limited, waiting is common.

Every time you use the bathroom, a staff member will clean it up. Assuming you have three people in front of you, your queue time will probably take an hour. There is a time limit for bathing. There is no charge for the first 15 minutes, and after 15 minutes, every 10 or 20 minutes more than 1 USD (approximately equal to 7 yuan).

△Manboo’s newly opened Net Room is approaching the “Internet Hotel” and bathing conditions are better/SoraNews24

Some Internet cafes can bathe for free, but do not provide bathroom supplies. You can only bring your own shower gel and shampoo, or buy the one-person portion provided in the shop.

In terms of diet, Internet cafes usually provide free drinks. Cola, coffee, tea bags, juices are all available, and cooked food and instant noodles need to be purchased separately.

If you want to spend the night, there will be different ways to charge internet cafes in different places. Some are billed directly by hours, and some are divided by time period.

With the update, many Internet cafes are now clean and brightly decorated, even taking the small and fresh route.

△ A small fresh Internet cafe in Shibuya/TripAdvisor

In order to expand the market, some new brands have designed Internet cafes like 24-hour bookstores. They have wooden bookcases, painted pure white walls, and warm yellow lights. They have more advanced equipment and more spacious rooms.

Overall, most people end up only staying in Internet cafes for a short time. Only those guests who use this as their “home” will not leave for a long time.

The outsiders who came to find a sense of freshness are here to feed their curiosity. The people in the game who are struggling with life are trapped in it and cannot get an answer.

It’s bright elsewhere, it’s dark here, some people are cheering and excited, some people frown. There are different worlds between private boxes and private boxes in Internet cafes of various sizes, whether old or new, in Tokyo City.

△ Four square meters of rooms, each with its own world/PulitzerCenter

“Living here, I originally wanted to protect myself from the troubles of real life. But from the facts, you have to communicate with people. I can’t grow up and live alone. Okay,” In “Lost in Manboo”, the resident Masata’s tone was bland, and his stay of more than 700 days and nights gave him more insight into life.

At the end of the film, he talked about his future plans.

The volume that was turned down so as not to disturb others made him seem to be mumbling, “I’m thinking, I need to leave here as soon as possible. I hope I have perseverance to adapt to this new world.”

△Masata also hopes to leave the internet cafe as soon as possible/ Video screenshot


Reference:

Manga eat tea は名古屋生まれ, Asahi Shimbun, 2015-10-26

Because there is no fixed place, 15,000 people stay in capsule hotels in Tokyo every day, Curiosity Daily, 2018-1-31

After living in an Internet cafe for two years, he decided to find his life back, The Bund, The Bund, 2020-1-7

Lost in Manboo, 99 Media, 2015

Net Cafe Refugees, Japan’s Disposable Workers, SHIHO FUKADA, 2015

Manga Kissa: Life in Japan’s Smallest Rooms, ASIAN BOSS, 2020

This article comes from the WeChat public account: nine rows (ID: jiuxing_neweekly) , Author: Cooper, Editor: Er Shugong, layout: Chips