Soineya

Located just on the edge of Akihabara, Tokyo’s epicenter for electronics, manga, and geek subculture, is a very different kind of shop. Soineya bills itself as a “co-sleeping” specialty shop, though it’s more commonly known in the West as Tokyo’s Cuddle Café.

At Soineya, affection-craving customers pay anywhere between 3,000-50,000 yen ($26-$450) to sleep next to (not with) an attractive woman for 20 minutes up to 10 hours.

Though it’s been nicknamed “cuddle cafe,” the base rate actually doesn’t include any touching. Any extra physical and emotional attention must be purchased à la carte for extra cost—head on lap, hand on arm, staring into each other’s eyes, a 5-second hug. It’s also extra bucks for customers to pick the girl they want. 

Soineya translates literally to “Sleep Together Shop,” and the strange establishment was the first of its kind in Japan when it opened. It’s a novelty to be sure, though the pay-for-love concept is not unlike the meido kissa, or maid cafes, found around Tokyo and especially in Akihabara.