TOKYO —
Sometimes, after a long, stressful day, there’s nothing more comforting than crawling into bed with your significant other and falling asleep in their arms.
But what if you don’t have anyone to cuddle with in the first place? If you’re in Japan, you might think to go to a soapland or some other kind of brothel, but then you’d have to deal with all that sex when you really just want to close your eyes and rest in the warmth of another’s body.
But wait! Before you resign yourself to another lonely night of shedding tears on your Rei Ayanami dakimakura, why not stop by Soineya, Japan’s first “co-sleeping specialty shop,” where customers can pay to sleep in the arms of a beautiful girl—with no strings attached.
Soineya (literally, “sleep together shop”) opened its doors on Sept 25 in none other than Akihabara, Tokyo’s electronics district, hub of otaku culture and birthplace of other eccentric establishments like maid cafés. Soineya defines itself as a “co-sleeping specialty shop,” which we’re going to denominate “cuddle cafe” because it has a better ring to it.
According to the homepage, Soineya hopes to offer patrons “the simple and ultimate comfort of sleeping together with someone.”
Of course, ultimate comfort comes at a price. Let’s take a look at the Soineya “service menu”:
Admission fee: 3,000 yen
Standard Course
20 min – 3,000 yen
40 min – 5,000 yen (only 3,000 yen for first time visitors)
60 min – 6,000 yen
2 hrs – 11,000 yen
3 hrs – 16,000 yen
4 hrs – 20,000 yen
5 hrs – 25,000 yen
6 hrs – 30,000 yen
10 hrs – 50,000 yen
“Shimei-ryo“ (fee to pick the girl you want to sleep with) – 1,000 yen + 500 yen per hour
Optional Course
Customer sleeps in girl’s arm (3 min) – 1,000 yen
Girl pats customer on the back (3 min) – 1,000 yen
Customer pets girl on the head (3 min) – 1,000 yen
Customer and girl stare at each other (1 min) – 1,000 yen
Girl changes clothes (1 time) – 1,000 yen
Girl gives customer foot massage (3 min) – 1,000 yen
Customer gives girl foot massage (3 min) – 2,000 yen
Customer sleeps with head on girl’s lap (3 min) – 1,000 yen
Girl sleeps with head on customer’s lap (3 min) – 2,000 yen
So basically, you’re paying about 6,000 yen an hour to lie in bed with a complete stranger. The website doesn’t specify what customers are and are not permitted to do during the standard course, but it’s probably safe to assume your options are limited to “close your eyes and be quiet.”
Furthermore, Soineya is currently recruiting girls for part-time in-store and “delivery” work. Here’s the job description.
■ Job: Sleeping
■ Location: Akihabara (3 min walk from station)
■ Qualifications: High school age to 30s
■ Compensation: 3,500 yen/hour
■ Hours: Weekdays 15:00-22:00, Weekend/holidays 12:00-22:00
Source: Soineya via Jinsoku
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This article gave me a good minute's worth of laughs. Especially funny are all the "optional courses".
