What it's Like Staying at an Internet Cafe for a Night

This was basically the same set up that was in front of me that night. From Hildgrim's flickr.

I mentioned before that I had stayed at an internet cafe before. Let me give you some back story:

I was working at a branch late one night and the next morning I had an early shift. In my rush to get home, I accidentally left my apartment keys inside a drawer in the teachers' office. By the time I had arrived home, the branch was already closed and the staff already went home, so there was no point in going back to try to get the keys back.

Locked out of my apartment for the night, I decided to go to the area where I worked at the next morning while the trains were still running and figure out what to do there. I had resolved myself to staying at a park, but then I remembered that internet cafes were a thing. I found one near the building I was going to be working at and settled for that.

The place I found was grimier than I thought. I walked in and the smell of smoke hit me hard. I was in a small lobby with a couple of doorways. Behind the semi-transparent doors, I could see people playing darts or pool. This wasn't just an internet cafe, it was also an arcade.

There was no one at the lobby counter. When someone finally came, they asked me some questions in Japanese. It didn't take them long to figure out I couldn't speak their language. The guy printed something in English and handed it to me. It was instructions on how to use the facility.

First, I had to make an account with them. It was fairly straightforward; they had an English paper for me to sign. Basically, it was an agreement on the conditions of using the place and the rates they were offering. I signed and they gave me a membership card.

When everything was filled out, they asked me what kind of room I wanted. I asked for a semi-private room. This room was the most private space they had available, according to their website. The guy gave me a knowing look, then led me to the space, showing me the drink machine, showers, and toilets along the way.

The semi-private room wasn't exactly a room. It was four plywood walls with no ceiling, a sliding door, a cushioned floor, and a legless, pleather chair set up in front of a shelf with a computer on it. Two things I noted right away as I entered the box: one, there was a box of tissues on the shelving unit and two, the computer was set up to have Google Chrome open in incognito mode. You don't have to try hard to imagine what this was about.

I had to take my shoes off for the room. I tried to lie down on the cushion floor, but I was too tall to fit completely. I had to use the legless chair to extend the cushion onto the area where you were supposed to take off or put on the shoes. I stayed there for an hour or so trying to get some sleep.

Unable to fall asleep, I got up to explore the area. The internet cafe had a lot of manga available. Obviously, they were all in Japanese, so I couldn't read anything. They looked like they were all available from the shelves though. There was also a drink bar. The drinks at this place was unlimited. I helped myself to some melon soda and went back to my room.

There, I noticed a menu under the keyboard. Apparently, you can order food here too. They were easy dishes such as omelet rice or pancakes, and they were quite expensive for what they were. They had a parfait too for about 2500 yen. That's roughly $25 Canadian.

Somehow, I managed to get some light sleep. The size of the area I could sleep on and the noise from movements just outside the door kept me from falling into deeper sleep. I remember peeking out at who was moving around outside and saw a disheveled man in basketball shorts and a tanktop with pit stains. I do think he was homeless.

When I left, the sun proved to be to bright for me. I think that was a sign that I definitely got a lack of sleep, but some sleep was better than none. I walked to my branch to start the day and apparently it wasn't obvious that I hadn't been home for more than 24 hours. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing.

That's it. That was my one time having to sleep at an internet cafe. It's not the most comfortable thing to do, but it definitely beats sleeping at a park bench. Marginally so, but still better.

Thanks for reading!