Vous avez toujours rêver de vivre au japon dans le quartier Akihabara?? voici votre appartement (ou boite a chaussure)

Tokyo's Akihabara is Japanese nerd heaven. If you are a geek in Tokyo, then you'll want to spend some time in Akihabara. Maybe you'll want to live there.


Then maybe you can live here? You get one room, a bunk bed, a space under your bunk bed, a TV, an air conditioner and a shower you must share with others. Did I say room? Sorry, I meant box.

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The monthly rent for this guest house is ¥37,000, plus a ¥5,000—that's USD$466! That's... a lot, even for this part of town, even with its location. The apartment, which was built in 1973, is very old by Japanese standards, and it looks like it is a regular apartment that has been divided up into several rooms.

Online in Japan, people are saying it would be better to live in a net cafe or a capsule hotel instead of this place. Some are even pointing out how they pay this much in rent and have their own place. Others are saying this guest house is probably packed with foreigners—an unintentionally telling insight regarding how difficult it can be for some foreigners to find housing in Japan. Sometimes, building owners do not want to rent to foreigners because they are worried about language problems—or even about foreigner skipping out on rent by skipping the country. Then, there are foreigners who do not want to pay the costly upfront fees to rent apartments.

Apartments in big Japanese cities do run small, especially one room apartments—hence why using Kinect in Japan was a concern. But even by Japanese standards, even by room sharing standards, this is teeny.



So, if you do live in Akihabara and are on a budget, you can do better than this. Do look around.

Tokyo is dense. Packed. And crowded. If you don't have much money and
want to live in places like Shibuya, you could live in a box.
Literally. A Japanese news program recently showed off an
"extremely cramped share house" ("geki-sema share house" or 激せまシャアハウス in
Japanese). There's a communal toilet and bath for the residents, who
sleep in tiny coffin-like rooms. The sleeping setup is not ideal for
those afraid of tight spaces.

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What's
more, the bedrooms are stacked on top of each other. "They look more
like lockers," wrote one commenter on a popular Japanese website. The
show interviewed a 24 year-old man who lives in one of these cramped
share houses. "It might be as big as two tatami mats," said the man, who
hopes to start his own business. Tatami mats, traditionally used to measure room sizes, are about 1.6 square meters. Small rooms are either 4.5 or 6 tatami mats.
The would-be entrepreneur said that he didn't have much money, which is why he rented this box. Er, room. Whatever.

The show also interviewed a 19 year-old named Chisato, who dreams of
becoming an actress. Her box is only 1.5 tatami mats, measuring 2.44
meters across.
She has enough space for her television, makeup, a stuffed animal, clothes, and blankets.
She does not have enough space for a camera crew.
What's truly mind-boggling is the rent:
That's ¥55,000 per month. It does include heat and electricity, but that's US$586.
"If
you look, you can find a two bedroom apartment for ¥55,000 a month,"
wrote a commenter online. "These people are being deceived."
The
would-be entrepreneur's room is slightly less expensive. Including heat
and electricity, he pays ¥45,000 or $480 a month. His box might be
cheaper because he doesn't have a window. Or pink wallpaper.
"This is a locker room," wrote one commenter online. "I thought it was going to be ¥2,000, but it ended up being ¥45,000."
Before you think, wow, apartment rent costs in Tokyo are insane, please realize that people in Japan are going, wow, this apartment is insane—or worse, cruel.

"I think the person who is tricking these people is awful," added
another, while yet another quipped: "I can't image what that place is
like in summer..." I can: hell.