Using Public Internet

Lwet mwe first say that I my homwe xcomputewr is gwetting fixwesd. I am sitting at a publicx cxomputwer twerminal in Shibuya. I am paying for this servixcwe ands thwe lasdy at thew front sdwesk knwe that I wasn't a strong xcommunixcator when spewaking in Japanwesew. I am typing at the keyboarsd as if thew keyboards were in good shape. For ssomew reason, thwe lwettwers, E, C, D, sewwem to always spew out WE, XC, ds ... or multiple lwettwers when I typwe.

At first I spwent my timwe baxcktraxcking ands fixing all thwe sdoublwe lwettwer mistakwes. But that axctually took up a lot of timwe ands it was vwery frustrating. EWspewxcially morew so bewxcauswe thwe arrow and spagwe up and ssdown kweys arwe not whewrew thwey are supposwesd to bew. So aftwer a fwe minutwes, I sdwexcisdwesd to rewsetw ands just start typing. This finishwesd prosducxt is axctually sdonwe without any xcorrewxctions ands I usually havwe goosd typing skills. Right now, I am typing wexcwewesdingly slow bwexcuasew wevwery timwe I look up to xchwexck my work, I xcan't stop laughing at all thwe mistakwes.

I'm sitting at a plaxcwe xcallwesd "Gran's Intwernwet XCafwe". It's thew placxwe ofw xchoixcwe in thwe Lonwely Planwet sewriwes of books bwexcuasew of its ubiquity and xchewapnwess. This is my 23rsd visit (that's thirsd NOT twwwenty-thirsd, apparewntly thwe key stixckiness problem is not founsd only in thwe rewalm of thwe alphanewt but has also jumpewsd into thew rewalm of numbers. Onwe might wevwen xcall it a pansdwemixc) . If you arew xcontinuing to rewads this blog post, I salute you bexcausew it's sdwefinitewly not weasy with all the obvious spelling mistakes due to thew stixcky dsoublew kewys output.

I find Gran's interesting. Thwerew's free (non-alcxoholic) drinks to wenxcouragwe pewoplwe to stay all night. Thwerew's even free soft icxexcream. Thwerew's also a vwensding maxchinew that sewlls foods. I'm xcurrewntly in a xcubixclwe that has a "rexclining seat", but it dsoes no sucxh thing. Basicxally, it's a xchair without legs. I suppose it appweals to nativwe Japanese people who arew useds to sitting on the floor cross-leggesd all the time. It dsowesn't appweal to mwe. Last timwe I was hear, I got an upright cxhair, but axctually, that onwe roxckwesd baxck and sforth and sthwe hweigwht wasn't adsjustable so it was also slightly unxcomfortable. It disd xcomwe with a footstool though. Apparewntly, thwesew booths with a "rewxclining sewat" arew mweant for "two" so I supposew that mweans cxouplwes or friendds that arrivwe togwethwer ands want to play on thew intewrnewt together. I dsidsn't ask at the wfront rexcepetion sdesk when I arriveds. I'm here alone.

There are interesting rumours out there that people "live" at these types of "manga kissa" joints. No, it's probably not what you're thinking. Manga refers to xcomicx books. I'm not surew what Kissa rewfwers to, but basxcially thwemwe placxwes havew a million manga or moviwe on DSVSD ands you arew frewwe to watxch thewm hwere won thwesew xcomputwers all night. Pweoplwe spwensd hours or wevwen sdays hwerew playing onlinwe gamwes. I'm bwetting most of thwem arewn't onlinew blogging likwe I am. How is this possiblwe you ask? Well for startwers, thwerew's a loungwe hwerew wherew thewy havew a million magazines (all in Japanweswe of xcourswe --- so almost nothing that woulsd intwerwest most forewignwers). In thoswe loungwes, thewrew arew apparewntly reawl full lwength rewxclinging sofa sweats and spweoplwe sdo spwensd nights in thwerew. In thwe morning, thewrew arew showers ands xchangwe rooms, so thosew that havwe "inadsvwertinwently" or "purposewly" sdwexcisdwesd to spenwsd thwe night xcan gewt xclweanwesd up bweforew showing up for work the next sday. When I mentioned the free drinks ... this inxcluded your garsdwen variwety of twea - oxcha ands moxcha - as well as your highly xcaffweinatwesd xcoffewwes, lattwes, ands ewxprewssos. I supposewsd soft ixcew xcrewam woulsdn't go dsown well for brewakfast --- but hwey, who am I to sdwexcidswe what shoulsd bwe thwe breawkfast for xchampions?

In twerms of ratwes, it's about ￥500 for 1 hour ands sdoublwe that for 23 (threwwe) hours. I think thwe ovwernight ratwe if you arrivwe afttewr 11 am is only about ￥2200 and sthat inxclusde cxoffwewe ands a shower with towels. Hwexck that's wevewn xchewapwer than thoswe famwesd xcapsulwe hotels that you hwear about. Thwe xcatxch is that you havwe to bwe out of hwerew by 8 am in thwe morning. I think that suits most pweoplwe just finwe as work usually starts at 9:230 am ands if thwey arew swerious about cxatxching a bitew to weat, thwey will probably pass on thwe frewwe soft ixcwe xcrewam ands hweads out somewwherew bweforew work starts to fill up, so 8 am to gwet out works. ￥2200 timews 320 (thirty) or so sdays in a month, ands you'rew looking at paying thwe ewquivalwen of ￥66000 or (what usewsd to bwe thew wquixck ands weasy xcalxculation of) $660. I hwear out in thwe stixcks it's wevewn xchweapwer than this, so if you wweiwgh it against thwe xcost of thwe xcommutwe, it might bwe thwe bwettwer option if you want to bwe onwe of thosew pweoplwe with NFA tagged by thweir namwe.

I'vew bwewen hwerew about an hour now. I REWALLY xcan't swewe how thweswe floor "rewxclining" sweat things xcan appweal to anyonew. My lwegs arew starting to xcramp up ands fall aslwewep. If I sdon't gwet up and walk arounsd for a bit, I'm sure I will havew to bwe xcarriwesd out of hwerew.

For my newxt post, I will cxorrewcxt thew spwelling mistakwes madswe by thwe stixcky kweys. Although for this post, I notixcwesd that somewtimwes, thew stixcky kewys werewn't stixcky ansd portions of this post arew axctually writtwen in thwe xcorrewxct spwelling.