Capsule Hotels

Back when I was on the JET Programme, the powers-that-be would sometimes have conferences/meetings/training seminars in various places...and if said places were far enough away, we'd have to get hotel space somewhere. Sometimes, the school board would supply the money, and other times not.

I never stayed in one of these places myself, but I know of a couple of ALTs from the hinterlands of Kagoshima prefecture would spend the night in one of these capsule hotels. Originally, the most common customer of a capsule hotel would be a salaryman who for some reason or another missed the last train home.

Nowadays, more and more people who've been laid off or have lost their housing for some reason or another are using the capsule hotel as a low-rent alternative to a homeless shelter. Some capsule hotels now have a monthly rate for such people (around $640), with free utilities. (Still pricey by Minnesota standards, especially for a box that's about 2 meters by 1.5 meters, and not tall enough to stand in.)

They seemed so bright and shiny and exotic when they were new -- I recall seeing a video of "Weird" Al Yancovic climbing into one on a Japan tour -- but now, they'd be perhaps kind of depressing.

Still, I doubt I would've been allowed to stay in one anyway; I sleep with a CPAP, and the noise would probably have kept an entire rank of boxes awake.

Two videos

A couple of videos from Japan. The first, fairly cool -- in a "too much free time" sort of way:



And the second, pure unadulterated "Japan -- WHAT THE F&@$?":

Pure, Distilled Essence of WRONG

That's right, Pepsi White. Pepsi and yogurt flavored drink. Two great tastes that in all probability were never ever supposed to be together.

I'm thinking that last year's celery-flavored Pepsi might still be tops in the weirdness category for Japan. Jones Soda still takes the World Championship trophy, though.

I swear I am not making this up

So NHK news is talking about how Japan is preparing for the upcoming G8 summit meeting in the town of Tōyako, Hokkaidō. Tokyo is going to send their riot police to Tōyako while the summit is in session. This reminds me of the preparations for the World Cup way back when...

"ARE YOU A HOOLIGAN?"*

Also, the local police will concentrate their forces around the meeting area, resulting in a reduced police presence in the rest of the town. The local officials are asking residents with dogs to patrol their own neighborhoods when they can. NHK showed footage of citizens and their impromptu dog patrols.

CHIHUAHUA patrols.

______
*inside joke.