Downtrodden Japanese Live in Internet Cafes

choi

Shiho Fukada, A Room With No View. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, July 15, 2013.
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... r-the-underemployed

My comment:
(a) summary in Table of Contents: Internet cafes in Japan have become hotels for the underemployed.
(b) Shiho FUKADA  深田 志穂 (a female photojournalist)
(c) "Cyber@cafe in Tokyo * * * Akihiro SATŌ, the owner"  佐藤 明広

http://www.cyber-a-cafe.com/company.html
(d) My only surprise is that unlike China (where internet cafes arrange computer terminals cheek by jowl, some internet cafes in Japan are furnished with booths. Otherwise, nothing to be alarmed about: when down on their luck, Americans live in their cars, which are less prevalent in Japan, so it is conceivable that Japanese live in booths.

choi

Kerri MacDonald, 漂泊无根、辛苦备尝的日本打工族; 镜头下，日本的工薪族、临时工和陪酒女郎过着孤独、绝望的日子。抑郁症、过劳死与自杀是很多人的归宿. 纽约时报中文网. July 16, 2013.
http://cn.nytimes.com/business/20130416/c16lens-fukada/

Kerri MacDonald, Japan’s Rootless and Restless Workers. New York Times, Apr 15, 2013 (in the Lens blog)
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/20 ... d-restless-workers/
("'This image of my country, I was really proud of how it was before,' she [Fukada] said. 'And it is not the same anymore'”)

Note:
(a) "Kamagasaki 釜ヶ崎 district [actually neighborhood] of Osaka"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamagasaki
(in Nishinari-ku 西成 区)

kama 釜 【かま】 (n): "iron pot; kettle"
(b) In the text, "Tdayuki SAKAI" is a typo. The caption of the last photo in the blog spells it correctly: "Tadayuki SAKAI."