mrbrown: sleepless and Internetless in Tokyo

I am in Tokyo and writing this on my iPhone in a cafe. I know, you are asking why I am in Tokyo and not Singapore, and why I am not doing this on a proper computer.

Let's deal with the easy question first. I am in Tokyo because my wife and I are here partly for work reasons and partly on vacation.

I have been here for three nights and already I am in love with Tokyo.

The second question, why am I doing my column in a cafe on my iPhone, that is a longer story.

Free wireless, it’s a basic human right

It started because the hotel I am staying in, a swanky five-star Shibuya hotel that shall remain unnamed, charges ¥1,050 (US$12.50 and S$16.50) for a day of Internet in the room.

Being the cheapskate Singaporean that I am, I balked at paying for what I consider a basic human right, much like air conditioning in a hotel room.

So off I went in search of Internet alternatives in Tokyo. My first thought was using a prepaid SIM card with data plan.

I have used such services in other countries and it is usually a cheap affair.

Roam with this baby if you can afford it.

Pay as you roam? Not a cheap affair

No go. Prepaid SIM cards are just not sold to non-residents here. In fact, most times, you have to rent the whole phone and not just the SIM card.

And even with rented phones, your data choices are metered, to the tune of ¥0.32 per 128 bytes.

Let me translate that for you: it is about US$31 (S$40.8) per megabyte. In English? That is a kidney-and-a half if you plan to go online a lot on your rented Japanese mobile phone.

Another choice was renting a Myfi device that gives you a wireless router for up to five devices to share an unlimited 3G mobile Internet data plan. That costs US$170 (S$223.90) a week; still too rich for me.

Lost without you

My next choice was an Internet cafe. I saw one as I walked back to my hotel from Shibuya station. It said 24 Hours, DVD and Internet, 4F. I thought, that sounds good.

So at close to midnight, I walked over from my hotel and took the lift up. It smelled of urine and when I got to the 4th floor (I assumed that was what 4F meant) it was deserted.

I turned around as the lift door closed, and where the lift buttons were supposed to be, was a mass of yanked out wires.

I had to come back down to the first floor via the fire escape and realized I was in the wrong dingy building.

Buildings in Tokyo are so close together that you can end up in the wrong dingy block. It was actually next door, up an equally smelly lift.

A whole lot more going on here than meets the eye.

Excuse me, is this an Internet cafe?

When I entered the 24-hour establishment, I saw that there were men queueing up with baskets of DVDs to make their payments. 
A quick glance at their selection of movies told me that they were not watching any art films.

Later a friend told me that these shops have a mostly male clientele who rent adult fare to watch in the privacy of the booths provided. 

Sure, there was Internet in the booths too, but I believe it was mainly used to partake of the same kind of stuff on those DVDs.

And to rent a booth (complete with reclining chair, though no word on tissues) it cost ¥1,000 an hour and ¥3,000 for 12 hours.

The hourly rate was not any cheaper than my hotel's 24-hour rate but I am told the 12-hour booth rate is excellent if you were looking for a place to crash overnight.

Showers are provided for overnight stayers, and I suppose for whoever needs a clean up after whatever they did in those booths.

As I left the 24-hour Palace of Self-pleasure and Cheap Overnight Stays, I began to doubt if I could find a reasonable place to get online.

The man (with the message) I've been hoping to meet all night.

Free Internet in Japan? It’s too good to be true

Then I remembered someone mentioning Wired Cafe, a cafe which offers dining but also the use of free Internet PCs to customers.

There was one in the Q-Front building behind Shibuya station, on the 6th floor, and they open till 2 a.m. Hooray!

I walked there and the rather handsome waiter showed me the terminals and said I could use it as long as I placed an order.

I looked at the menu and decided, after all my adventures running around at night, that I was hungry. So I ordered a dessert made of French toast, whipped cream, berries and ice cream, and a drink. My total damage? ¥1,000.

I know. I know. But I can surf here in this nice non-dodgy cafe as long as I want and get some food for my money while I am at it. And listen to jazz music too.

Oh, and why am I typing this on my iPhone, you ask? Because the PCs they provided in Wired Cafe had an old version of Explorer installed and my Google Docs don't work with old browsers.

Plus their keyboards had this weird skin on it that made typing difficult. So I decided it was faster just to type on my iPhone using my Writeroom app and just use the free Wi-Fi.

Now for my next challenge: how to email my editor these lovely photos I took.

Sigh.