Manga Kissa: Life in Japan’s Smallest Rooms | ASIAN BOSS

My name is Hagi I'm a freelance programmer working for an IT company in Tokyo after work a lot of people in Tokyo go drinking with their coworkers and then take the subway to get home to their families but my situation is different it takes hours to get from Tokyo to my house so I sleep in a small room In a nearby internet cafe called "Manga Kisa" these rooms are for technically reading manga , I'm not homeless but I can't call Manga Kisa rooms home these are my life As a temporary "resident" at Manga Kisa in Tokyo Manga Kisa: Life in the smallest rooms in Japan Hello ~Hello~ Are you Hagi? ~Yes it's me~ Nice to meet you I'm Hiroko from "Asian Boss" ~Nice to meet you~ I heard you live in an unusual place can you show us where you live? ~Yes, of course~ But first, can I go get the rest of my things? Did n't take everything with you? ~Besides this backpack, there's another suitcase I'm carrying with me~ I put it there in the locker ~Understood, okay~ I'll take you there ~Great~ Do you always bring it to Manga Kisa? Yes, that's my gear, you look like a tourist! Could you introduce yourself briefly? Okay, my name is Hagi and I'm 31 years old. I'm self-employed, you can say I don't have an employer. I'm a programmer, and do things related to information technology. How long have you been living in Manga Kisa? I think this is the fifth year I've lived here I think this is the fifth year I've lived here it's not a lifestyle that suits everyone, but for me it's heaven it's a very comfortable place to live and that's why I've been living here for five years for our viewers from around the world who don't know What is manga kisa, can you explain to us exactly what manga kisa is? Simply put, it's a place where you can read as much Japanese comics (manga) as you want but you can't make noise because you don't get a completely private room what do you mean? How do I explain it... it's like a bathroom it's a room without a ceiling so it's like a cabin without a ceiling right, and there are even manga kisa rooms with a jacuzzi inside the cafe? ~Yes, and there are also some with a sauna~ So are there also normal shower rooms? ~yes, there is~ I think every manga kisa in Japan now has shower rooms and how does it work in manga kisa? First of all, you go to reception and show them your room number and give them your card or room key and then the staff will give you shampoo and conditioner and the availability of the showers changes all the time so there are many times I have to wait in line I would say I have to wait between an hour and an hour and a half to take a shower Because the staff has to clean the shower every time after someone uses it and it's a repetitive process so if there are three people who booked a shower before me it will take an hour until it's my turn Is there a time limit for the shower? You can shower for up to 15 minutes for free and if it's past 15 minutes, every ten or twenty minutes of showering will cost you one dollar do you pay per hour to use the coffee? Yes, there are places that charge by the hour and there are places that have rent for a set time and you can use the facility for free for that time the prices of the manga rooms vary and that's one of the attractive things about them these days, do you think the main purpose of going to a manga kisa is still just to read manga ? I think a lot of people use it as a place to live I've been to a lot of different manga kisa houses and in my personal experience the best thing about them is that you don't have to look a lot to find one because there are manga kisa houses in every train station in the city you can quickly get to your work day the next day for example if you Looking at manga kisa houses near train stations there are many foreign tourists who use manga kisa as a cheap option for a place to live does that mean manga kisa is your only home? To be honest, I have my parents house for real!? ~Yes~ So you have a house, why don't you go to it? First of all, I really hate traveling by train in the busy morning hours and I'm the type of person who wants to do a lot of things in their life so I'd rather sleep less to do what I want or to work but because it takes me an hour to get to the city the two hours spent on the round trip will be wasted every day and those are two hours Very precious to me and that's why I decided to live in Manga Kisa so you live in Manga Kisa 365 days a year? No, I live here about 200 days out of the 365 days of the year so how many days a week do you live in manga kisa? ~4 or 5 days a week~ so you only stay here when you have to work? That 's right, on weekends I usually go back to my parents' house I heard Manga Kisa cells are very narrow and small but contrary to what I heard, it's very spacious here in fact it's a special private room I booked this room for today so we can have privacy for the interview normal cells are about this size they are So narrow two people can fit in one? No, no way I'm curious about what people change in a manga kisa booth like this? For sure more men tend to use manga kisa than women it's rare to see women and as for the age range most people who use manga kisa houses are in their thirties or forties has anyone tried to contact you or start a conversation with you on manga kisa? There was one time when someone knocked on the door to my cell so I opened it and saw a woman and she was.. she was a dater was she a dater herself? ~Yes~ She definitely wanted to make money from balances, but mostly because she had to pay for her cell, because she rented it for a long time so she was looking for a man to cover her check. This is a pretty popular method that girls like her use to live in Manga Kissa. Was she a normal girl? Yes, she was young, she wasn't one of those older expats. It's hard to believe. What exactly did she tell you? She said she sells sexual service and asked me if I was horny. She asked you if you wanted to sleep with her? Or she said something like you can sleep with me for 900 dollars yes, something like that what a crazy world do you think there are also people who have no choice but to live here? Yes, I think there are those people who usually live in manga kisa houses tend to be those with family problems like marriage problems so they can't go back to their house or they are married men who have lost their place in their family and house so they may have money but they live outside the houses They have many people like that, how does Japanese society see people like you who live in manga kisa? Their perception of us is definitely more negative than positive they think of us as part of the poor working class who can only afford to live in a place like Manga Kisa because normal people would choose to live in a hotel but people like us have to live in Manga Kisa instead I understand so you tell your friends or co-workers that you live here? No, I don't tell anyone unless they're close enough to me to go out drinking together What was the hardest moment you had in manga kisa? Have you had a moment like that? I don't know if it's appropriate to say this but there's a virus going around right now, right? And the cells don't have a ceiling, right? ~Right~ So if one person gets sick, everyone gets sick and because there is the corona virus that is going around now, the truth is that I am very worried what if you get sick with the corona virus? The worst part is that a lot of tourists live in manga kisa houses in the area where I usually am and a lot of tourists from other Asian countries use these manga kisa houses so I'm very scared, to be honest the last time, I got the noro virus ~got the flu?~ Yes, I was very sick and what What I did was buy some health drinks and food and locked myself in Manga Kisa for a week until I recovered but you may have infected others too ~yes I did~ but I was infected too From other people in Manga Kisa So honestly, in that sense it can be bad to live here I don't think it would be true for you but are there many people who become sad or depressed while living in this environment? Yes, there are many times I have heard people cry in their cells or it was more like secretly sobbing but I guess people come here when they are sad or depressed and want their own space some people talk to their friends or have other things to deal with personal matters and overcome them but there are Also people who prefer to go to manga kisa for time to themselves and sink into their own sadness and depression even though there are many people in the manga kisa houses no one ever contacts you and that's why These people choose to go to them so these people will sink into their sadness and only then will they notice all the little noises around them and then they will feel more energetic and motivated so I think this is a good use of manga kisa so do you recommend others to live in manga kisa? Yes, I recommend ~really?~ Yes, I totally recommend it What kind of people do you recommend it to? You know, there are too many people in Japan who complain about life "my life is miserable" and they all hate the train ride in the busy morning hours and the fact that they don't have free time for themselves because of work if you listen to all these things they say, they are just complaining but I believe that manga Kisa can solve all these problems so I say, "Why don't you just live in a Kisa manga?" "Look how my life has changed" I am living proof that manga kisa can solve people's problems How do you think your future will develop from here? Personally, my life has already changed thanks to Manga Kisa so I would like to spread the positive sides of Manga Kisa houses and hopefully, in the future, I will build my own Manga Kisa house