Apr 12, 2020 (Nikkei) - Millions of people will be inconvenienced by the Tokyo metropolitan government's business shutdown campaign as the city battens down against increasing numbers of coronavirus infections, but some of the megalopolis's most marginalized residents will lose their homes.
So-called internet cafe "refugees" sleep in these all-night businesses out of necessity as they cannot afford a place of their own.
These "cafes" are among the entertainment facilities that Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has requested be at least partially shut down. Two years ago, the municipality estimated it had about 4,000 low-income residents who call the cafes home. Now it says it has begun providing them with hotel rooms and other kinds of accommodation on a temporary basis.
But support groups say those who need these rooms have yet to be offered them.
More than 190 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tokyo on Saturday, a record daily increase for the fourth straight day, according to a metropolitan government official.
A 64-year-old security guard who lives in an internet cafe in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Friday was online searching for an alternative place to stay. The cafe booth he spends his days in measures about 1.8 sq. meters. At night he works as a part-time security guard.
Inside a Tokyo internet cafe. (Photo modified so venue cannot be identified.) © Kyodo
"I have no place to go if this cafe is closed," he said. He did not try to conceal the concern in his voice: A lot of his shifts have been getting canceled due to the pandemic. As it is, he can barely afford the cafe's monthly booth charge of 40,000 yen ($370).
Japan's internet cafes have evolved over the years to the point where the word "cafe" has become a misnomer. They are more like hotels that provide private booths with comfortable reclining chairs, shower facilities and laundry service at reasonable prices for overnight users.
They also offer unlimited free drinks, blankets, cushions, manga, DVDs and Wi-Fi. Tourists use them. So do salarymen who miss their last train home. And for those with little income, the salons offer something of a home.
They emerged in large cities in the 2000s, and almost immediately the fact that some people were using them as tiny inexpensive apartments became a social issue. Here was a segment of the population that had largely gone unnoticed -- workers who earn too much to qualify for welfare services but not enough to afford their own flat.
