Manga Cafe
Manga cafes in Japan are a strange cross between entertainment and hospitality and a library and accomodation. They are mainly, as the name implies, a place to sit down and read from the shelves and shelves and shelves of manga. Sadly, the manga collections are almost always only Japanese. You pay for the amount of time that you spend there, which can be from 100 yen for 15 minutes.
You can sit an read in an “open” area (if the cafe has one) or inside partitioned booths. These booths are not the epitomy of privacy, they tend to reach shoulder height and are open at the top, so noise can still filter in. The booths usually contain a chair, table and a computer with internet access - which leads on to one of the other functions of a manga cafe: an internet cafe.
Many of the more upmarket cafes however, are more than just a place to read manga and check your email. The booths may also contain a television with a DVD player, Playstation and XBox, with a collection of DVDs and games to play. Many magazines are available to peruse. Some booths are decked out as an office, with a printer, phone and fax machine. There is usually a drinks counter and sometimes a full kitchen selling gourmet foods. One manga cafe I visited in Kyoto recently had a solarium and showers.
Manga cafes are another option in the ‘Where to stay when I’ve miss the last train home” list. Many cafes have a ‘night pack’ which can cost around the 2000 yen mark. Most Japanese people use them as a place to kill some time or a place to escape to when the outside world gets too much. Admittedly, some of them look like nightclubs and have a great atmosphere. Indeed, these days, manga cafes aren’t just the realm of otaku.
Links:
Wikipedia
Manboo (in Japanese)
Media Cafe Popeye (in Japanese)
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