TOKYO – Offering plenty of reading opportunities during breaks between work, the Tokyo branch of Shinjuku Book and Bed, with its rows and rows of shelves with beds tucked into them, has become a popular spot for telecommuters in the city. capital city.

The accommodation facility, designed as a bookstore where people can spend the night, crams into its shelves approximately 2,500 books from a wide range of genres and styles, including novels, manga, photo books and books. philosophical texts. Although the books are not for sale, visitors can read as much as they want. But the hostel doesn’t just offer beds for telecommuters; the center of the space also has a social space used by many people.

Book and Bed Tokyo has a total of 55 beds separated from the reading area by curtains. They make up the majority of accommodation available in the space, which has shared bathing facilities and toilets that are broken down by gender. Single and double rooms with a night view of Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district are also available.

Although the foreign travelers who made up about 70% of its guests are currently unable to visit due to COVID-19, the space has become in demand among remote workers and non-travelers who want to change their environment from at home in a nice place. Under such circumstances, the company claims to have a more diverse customer base than ever before.

Now that the state of emergency is over, its theaters are almost fully full on weekends, and the company has reportedly recovered to the point that weekday utilization rates are twice as high as last year.

Part of what keeps usage rates going is the number of young people looking for Insta-worthy images of unusual spaces. Use of the sofa costs 700 yen (approx $ 6.20) while beds start from 960 yen (approx $ 8.50) per hour each and overnight stays start at 3,000 yen (approx $ 26.60) ).

(Japanese original by Kentaro Ikushima, Photo Group)