Tokyo’s Tiniest Apartments are Like Expensive Closets
Picture a tiny windowless room, just big enough to stretch out in (as long as you aren’t of above-average height) and store a few meager belongings. It sounds like the description of a prison cell, but young professionals in Tokyo are willingly paying up to $600 per month to live in cabinet-like rooms like these.
These pictures from a recent Japanese news story show the “geki-sema,” or “share houses” in all their claustrophobic detail. The cabinets are reminiscent of the capsule hotels that have been popular in Japan and other countries for years. The difference is that these “apartments” are slightly larger and are meant for long-term occupancy, not simply one night of shut-eye.
The typical geki-sema resident spends most of his or her day at the office, outdoors, or spending time away from home with friends. These tiny chambers aren’t meant to be gathering places for groups of buddies; they are strictly for sleeping, changing clothes, and perhaps keeping a few important items close at hand.
From The Daily Mail:
“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 show.”
Tokyo landlords began offering this strange type of housing to cash in on the chronic housing shortage that plagues the city. The impossibly small spaces are often stacked to maximize the number of residents that can fit into a small area. While we can get behind the idea of small-space living, this concept takes it to the extreme. Without a private bathroom or even a window, it seems that it would be very simple to lose your sanity in a room not much larger than a coffin.
