Japanese Internet cafe chain transforms into budget hotel for travellers
(PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ANN) - Japanese Internet cafes are styled differently than what is seen in the rest of the world.
For one thing, some Japanese treat them like cheap hotels, staying in them for days, even weeks. One Internet cafe chain recognised this tendency by customers, and thereby converted its shops into what's now called the "Net Room".
Manboo, one of Japan's biggest Internet cafe operators, essentially turned their cafes into affordable hotels, complete with a variety of amenities that a traveller would need, such as a private room and a bath.
snip
And yet, staying in a Net Room can start for as low as 100 yen (S$1.25) an hour. An extended stay for a maximum of two weeks can go for around 12,600 to 14,000 yen (S$175) per week.
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/japanese-internet-cafe-chain-transforms-into-budget-hotel-for-travellers
I'm not knocking these places. They are providing a service. But they aren't all that great.
If you go to youtube and look up "Residents living permanently in Japan's cyber-cafés - Lost in Manboo" you get a good look at some of the people who live there. They're not bad people. The stories of the man and the woman in the video are quite enlightening. I went and looked at one of the Manboos in Tokyo yesterday while I was in the city. You'd almost never guess it was an internet cafe
