Odd jobs on construction sites used to earn Takahashi enough money to pay for a private booth each night at one of Tokyo’s internet cafes. But Japan’s coronavirus lockdown not only cost him his work, ...

Takahashi is one of Tokyo's 4,000 "internet cafe refugees" -- homeless people, mostly men, who before the pandemic usually paid between $17 and $28 to stay overnight in a 20 square foot booth in one ...

Open around the clock, many internet, manga and video-booth cafes across Japan provide showers, coin laundries, a cafe and most importantly -- private booths with reclining chairs that can be rented ...