On my Googling for other info I found this very interesting article about a new trend in Japan called "media-immersion pods."
ON a recent afternoon, at around 5:30, I visited the Gran Cyber Café in the Shinjuku neighborhood for the first time, to read e-mail and visit a news site or two. Checking in, I was assigned to pod 16-A.
I loved 16-A the instant I saw it. I closed the door, slipped into a low-slung leatherette seat and surveyed the all-you-can-eat tech feast, which includes VHS and DVD players, satellite and regular television on a Toshiba set, PlayStation 2, Lineage II and a Compaq computer loaded with software, all the relevant downloads and hyperspeedy Internet. In the nearby library were thousands of comic books, magazines and novels. On the desk was a menu of oddball snacks, like boiled egg curry and hot sandwich tuna.
The atmosphere is airless and hot, with a permanent cloud of cigarette smoke. Over all the effect is of a low-wattage, low-oxygen casino.
So they are kind of a way for Japanese to get out of the rigid social structure and bustle of city life to be anonymous and have time all to themselves. In that time they get to immerse themselves in tech and manga. A kind of solo buffet of uninterrupted media consumption. The whole idea of these Pods *really* appeals to me. Noone to bother you as you game, watch TV, DVDs, read Manga or whatever. You are just alone with your own thoughts with no distractions or outside stimuli to take your attention away from your media consumption.
1 comment:
Would you really find that level of sensory deprivation coupled with stimuli overload appealing? Not to mention the interesting buffet items...hmmm, perhaps a hotel room with every gaming thing known to man and decent room service ?
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