A cubicle at an internet cafe , also known as , are a class of homeless people in Japan who do not own or rent a residence (thus having no permanent address) and sleep in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés. Although such cafés originally provided only Internet services, some have expanded their services to include food, drink, and showers. The term was coined in 2007 by a Nippon News Network documentary show NNN Document.“NNNドキュメント バックナンバー（2007年1月28日）”. 日本テレビ放送網. 2015年12月20日閲覧 The net café refugee trend has seen large numbers of people using them as their homes.BusinessWeek. Japan's Net Café Refugees. August 28, 2007.  A cultural anthropological perspective suggests that net cafe refugee is one of the phenomena that arose amid Japan's "lost decades" associated with the 1989 Bubble Burst and the 2011 Triple Disaster that left a long-lasting sense of "precarity." Alongside other youth crises like freeter and irregular employment, net cafe refugee can be seen as exemplifying the  insecurity and hopelessness shared among the contemporary Japanese society. As of 2020, it was estimated 15,000 people stay overnight in internet cafés in Tokyo.  The closure of internet cafés during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan made the homelessness problem more obvious.  Facilities Some internet cafés offer free showers and sell underwear and other personal items, enabling net café refugees to use the internet cafés like a hotel or hostel. Most venues offer complimentary soft drinks and soup varieties at the lounge, and some venues sell a wide variety of restaurant-quality food items  . Net cafés offer different seat types at different rates. Seats range from a regular chair, a reclining chair in booth, and a flat seat in booth (フラット, furatto). In addition to the night package and accommodations, this implies that the industry is expanding in accordance with the constant demand of net cafe refugees.  The fee of around ¥1400 to ¥2400 yen for a night – which may include free soft drinks, TV, comics and internet access – is less than for capsule hotels. Some cyber-homeless may also be freeters  .
A cubicle at an internet cafe , also known as , are a class of homeless people in Japan who do not own or rent a residence (thus having no permanent address) and sleep in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés. Although such cafés originally provided only Internet services, some have expanded their services to include food, drink, and showers. The term was coined in 2007 by a Nippon News Network documentary show NNN Document.“NNNドキュメント バックナンバー（2007年1月28日）”. 日本テレビ放送網. 2015年12月20日閲覧 The net café refugee trend has seen large numbers of people using them as their homes.BusinessWeek. Japan's Net Café Refugees. August 28, 2007. The shifting definition of the industry partly reflects the dark side of Japanese economy, whose precarity has been noted since the downfall of the national economy that has lasted for decades. A cultural anthropological perspective suggests that net cafe refugee is one of the phenomena that arose amid Japan's "lost decades" associated with the 1989 Bubble Burst and the 2011 Triple Disaster that left a long-lasting sense of "precarity." Alongside other youth crises like freeter and irregular employment, net cafe refugee can be seen as exemplifying the collective insecurity and hopelessness shared among the contemporary Japanese society. As of 2020, it was estimated 15,000 people stay overnight in internet cafés in Tokyo. The vast majority of net café refugees is young male. Unlike the traditional association with homelessness, this tells that most net café refugees are urban working class driven to unstable form of residence due to the high cost of living amid the long-term economic difficulty. The closure of internet cafés during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan made the homelessness problem more obvious. The coronavirus-related coverage of net café refugees address that the 24-hour feature of net cafés and manga cafés was originally used by businesspeople, but these venues turned into shelters for the urban poor, and the closure due to the pandemic is driving them homeless, even more literally. Facilities Some internet cafés offer free showers and sell underwear and other personal items, enabling net café refugees to use the internet cafés like a hotel or hostel. Most venues offer complimentary soft drinks and soup varieties at the lounge, and some venues sell a wide variety of restaurant-quality food items , that are likely sold by family restaurants in Japan . Net cafés offer different seat types at different rates. Seats range from a regular chair, a reclining chair in booth, and a flat seat in booth (フラット, furatto). In addition to the night package and accommodations, this implies that the industry is expanding in accordance with the constant demand of net cafe refugees. In sum, the industry is moving away from its original intention and trying to attract customers with low budget, just like hotels and hostels. The fee of around ¥1400 to ¥2400 yen for a night – which may include free soft drinks, TV, comics and internet access – is less than for capsule hotels. Some cyber-homeless may also be freeters . To elaborate, the low income earned through their unstable freeter labor hinders them from settling in traditional forms of residence and drives them to net cafés, contrary to their initial purpose as temporary stations .
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The shifting definition of the industry partly reflects the dark side of Japanese economy, whose precarity has been noted since the downfall of the national economy that has lasted for decades.
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collective
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The vast majority of net café refugees is young male. Unlike the traditional association with homelessness, this tells that most net café refugees are urban working class driven to unstable form of residence due to the high cost of living amid the long-term economic difficulty.
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The coronavirus-related coverage of net café refugees address that the 24-hour feature of net cafés and manga cafés was originally used by businesspeople, but these venues turned into shelters for the urban poor, and the closure due to the pandemic is driving them homeless, even more literally.
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, that are likely sold by family restaurants in Japan
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In sum, the industry is moving away from its original intention and trying to attract customers with low budget, just like hotels and hostels.
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. To elaborate, the low income earned through their unstable freeter labor hinders them from settling in traditional forms of residence and drives them to net cafés, contrary to their initial purpose as temporary stations