Japan's Job-Seekers Find Home in Capsule Hotels, Just Don't Invite the Mistress
Hearing about businessmen who turn their hotel room into a home-away-from-home is no new phenomenon. There may even be a wife-away-from-home involved, but that's a different story altogether.
Also nothing new are those teeny, tiny capsule hotel "rooms"—if they can even be called that—common to Japan. They're cute and quirky to us Americans, sure, but these days they're serving a different purpose. With the economy having taken a turn for the worst in 2009, some of the country's unemployed have turned to dwelling at places like the Hotel Shinjuku as they search for new jobs, reports the New York Times.
"Home" for many active jobseekers are pods "no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in," says the Times, but being relatively affordable, they're an attractive option for those unable to pay rent.
Still, even these economic dwellings, which require that most of one's possessions be squirreled away in lockers, can start to get pricey after an extended period of time—$640 per month for an upper bunk, according to the report. Nevertheless, being able to register hotel rooms as "official abode[s]" is helpful for those hoping to score interviews—more official, and all.
The convenience of capsule sleepovers, however, is questionable.
[Photo: mdid]
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