Within three years, Slow Curve, a Japanese company specializing in 'anime' advertising (Japanese animation), plans to open 10 floors or units in three districts of Tokyo aimed at fans of manga.
Akihabara, Ikebukuro and Nakano will be the three districts in the capital of Japan, Tokyo, which will have several furnished apartments from EUR 36 a night, with shelves of over 2,000 Japanese comic books all over the closets, bathrooms and bedrooms.
Slow Curve plans to adapt the apartments to the clients. In Akihabara apartments they will have the latest news in manga, in Ikebukuro the comics will target women and Nakano will feature classic manga.
These flats for ‘otaku’ (fans of Japanese culture) will be available only to foreign visitors and for private use, but the company does not rule out any possible licenses in Tokyo
Users will have discounts at restaurants and ‘cosplay’ shops (for otaku who dress up as their favorite manga characters) and for the latest toys.
According to Nikkei the initiative reflects a strategy of the Japanese city to promote local economic growth.
Slow Curve will keep the costs of operating the apartments to a minimum by eliminating hotel-like services. The company will call on Tomareru, a Tokyo-based real estate-related company with expertise in effectively using vacant residential properties, to help it get things right.
Akihabara, Ikebukuro and Nakano are already viewed as manga and anime holy places, with each attracting numerous foreign tourists – but only for hours at a time. The potential lodgings could make these neighborhoods true destinations.