TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government announced Tuesday that the coronavirus state of emergency will end this week to help rejuvenate their economy as infections slow.
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Can’t Afford A Shanghai Apartment? Try Sleeping In A “Shared Compartment”
(ZeroHedge) Shanghai’s status as an emerging tech hub is bringing with it problems related to overcrowding experienced by US cities like San Francisco and certain parts of New York City – namely out-of-control rents and home prices.
But now, the cities’ mid-tier office drones, some of whom may not have enough cash saved to “commit” to an apartment, have a new low-cost housing alternative. They’re called shared compartments, and they’re are popping up in office buildings around Shanghai. Users pay to sleep in the compartments for a set amount of time. They’re given disposable bedding to make sleeping more comfortable, and the compartments are disinfected automatically by ultraviolet light after each use.
Photos of these compartments have been circulating on Chinese media:
People can enjoy a rest in the compartment by scanning the QR codes for payment.
A man experiences a shared compartment in Shanghai…
The inside of a shared compartment…
The disposable bedding…
They have been rising precipitously now for at least a decade, with an average 1,000 square foot apartment in Shanghai going for $725,000, or around five million yuan. Shanghai’s average salary per month is 7,108 yuan ($1,135) or 85,300 yuan a year. That puts local property in Shanghai at about 50 times median salaries in the city, according to Forbes. By comparison, housing prices in New York City are 32 times salaries of average New Yorkers.
With those figures in mind, showering at the company gym doesn’t sound so bad.
Living in a box: The desperate workers forced to live in tiny ‘coffin’ apartments of Tokyo – which still cost up to £400 a month to rent
- Japanese capital is one of the most crowded cities in the world
- ‘Geki-sema’ or share houses are mainly used by young professionals
- No windows and enough room for one person and a few possessions
They are barely large enough for a single person to squeeze into at all, let alone swing a cat.
But incredibly these tiny ‘coffin’ apartments in central Tokyo still command rents of up to £400 a month.
The Japanese capital is one of the most crowded cities in the world, and to cash in on the chronic housing problem, landlords have developed what are known as ‘geki-sema’ or share houses.
Tight squeeze: A Tokyo local shows a Japanese news crew around her tiny ‘coffin apartment’
Pokey: People are paying up to £400-a-month to live in the tiny ‘coffin’ apartments
Party time: The news team somehow manage to all squeeze inside the miniscule apartment
They are little more than cupboards, tiny cubicles stacked on top of each other with just enough room for one person and a few of their possessions.
Definitely not for the claustrophobic, many don’t even have windows and the doors and anyone over 6ft tall would have trouble stretching their legs.
Most are used by young professionals who spend most of their time at work and outdoors, using these tiny accommodations just for sleeping.
The photo’s of the apartments in the Tokyo’s Shibuya district come from a recent Japanese news program showed
Tight squeeze: A man shows off his tiny Tokyo apartment with just enough room to stretch out and hang his clothes.
Cosy: The tiny cubicles are often stacked on top of each other and contain just enough room for one person to stretch out
Entertaining friends: The apartments tend to be used by young professionals who spend most of their time at work and outdoors
No space like home: Many of the ‘geki-sema’ share houses don’t even have windows
Easy Money 