租男友回家過年【中央社】
中國大陸「剩女商機」當道，大陸網站淘寶網出現「租男友回家過年」商品，1家業者提供的價格單顯示，1天的「打包價」是人民幣2000元（約新台幣9200元）。
根據這份價格單，這些「男友」陪吃飯、聊天都是依鐘點收費計價，例如陪逛街、陪看電影每小時收費人民幣30元，陪吃飯、「禮節性接吻」每次50元，晚上睡沙發每次600元。店主還明確指出「不提供同床服務」，若要陪上墳、陪拜祖先，需要雙方議價。
根據1家業者的「陪聊服務收費表」，若談的話題是以男性喜愛話題為主，計價是每小時10元；若是要以女性喜愛話題為主，每小時要20元。若是要求租來的男友只聽不說、還要「裝出特感興趣的樣子」，每小時要價30元，若要對方回答「諸如我和你媽掉河裡先救誰一類腦筋急轉彎問題」，每小時收費高達40元。
綜合大陸媒體報導，農曆春節腳步逼近，許多「大齡女青年」回家過年，難免遭遇老人嘮叨、詢問婚姻情況。目前，在淘寶網上輸入「租男友」，能找到上百件「寶貝」。
Questions:
1. Why do parents pressure their children to marry?
2. Will you take this job? And is it safe for take this job?
3. What do you think the value of marriage?
Rented boyfriends keep Chinese parents at bay By Xu Lin, China Daily
BEIJING--Taobao.com, China's largest online marketplace, is never short of bizarre offers.
And here is the latest one: boyfriends for rent.
A rental boyfriend can do the following: accompanying the girl to visit friends and families, go shopping, having meals and even getting a kiss out of courtesy. The charge is by the hour.
The services became hot with the approach of Spring Festival, the most important festival for family reunions.
In China, parents especially worry about unmarried daughters.
Single women will have to face the same old question at the family dinner table: Have you got a boyfriend?
And for those who haven't found their Mr. Right, renting a boyfriend emerges as a solution.
So, which men are willing to offer that service?
“I offer such a service only because I'm bored and know fewer female friends at work,” said Ding Hui, 27, a salesman in the plastic industry in Shanghai, with a monthly salary of more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,600).
He leased himself twice last year during Spring Festival and National Day.
His customers were two 28-year-old women.
He charged 3,000 yuan each, and the customer had to cover his round-trip tickets, accommodations and bought him clothes to make him look smart.
More than 260 rent-a-boyfriend services can be found on taobao.com, with the number climbing.
An anonymous female netizen, who claimed to have rented a boyfriend, said on the website: “My parents are very satisfied, so that my pressure is greatly reduced.” Another comment reads: “It's good that I've fulfilled the wish of my parents.”
Ding said trust building is very important, and the job is all about acting, which proved to be tough for him.
“I was exhausted as I had to flatter others for seven days and had to think before I spoke. I don't want to do it anymore,”he said.
According to him, he only held hands with thecustomers. As it's awkward to share a room with the customer, he would ask to sleep on the couch.
“Safety counts,” he said.
Chen, a 27-year-old from Huizhou, Guangdong province, who only gave her surname, couldn't agree more.
She opened an online agency on taobao.com last year, to offer fake girlfriends or boyfriends. She has more than 20 part-time workers all over the country.
“Mutual trust is a must. I have to ensure the safety of female workers,” she said.
She had about 20 orders in 2012 and only three this year. Many called to consult, but few make orders for fear of being deceived. Fees depend on the places and the length of time, ranging from 600 yuan to 1,500 yuan, with an additional agency fee.
She said most customers are from the countryside, because parents in big cities don't mind as much about their children being single.
According to Chen, customers had various reasons for renting a partner. One man broke up with his girlfriend a month before Spring Festival, and he had promised his family he would bring his girlfriend home. He turned to Chen for help.
Beijing Normal University associate professor of psychology Lin Xiuyun said it's not a good idea to rent a boyfriend or girlfriend to meet one's parents, who will be concerned about more questions, such as when they will get married.
“It's better to communicate with parents, who will be hurt more if the white lie ends with a break-up between the fake couple,” Lin said.
膠囊旅館 (維基百科)
膠囊旅館住宿設施，常見於日本。住客可使用的空間局限於一個大約2米 x 1米 x 1.25米，由注模塑膠或玻璃纖維製成的細小空間內，僅足夠睡眠。空間內通常設有電視等電子娛樂設備，在住客單元的入口處設有一塊簾以維持住客的私隱，但聲浪則難以完全隔絕，洗手間及淋浴設施需要共用。這些單元會堆疊起來，住客的行李需要存放在離單元較遠的儲物櫃中。膠囊旅館內亦設有餐廳，或自動售賣機等設施，方便住客。
膠囊旅館起源於日本，但在日本以外並未獲得廣泛接受。日本的膠囊旅館規模各異，部份只有約50個單元，較大的可多達700個單元，通常只供男性入住。部份膠囊旅館則分別設有男女使用的單元。進入膠囊旅館的住客，通常需更換浴衣及拖鞋。
膠囊旅館的最大優點是方便及價格相宜，一般每人每晚租金約4,000至5,000日圓，較正式的旅館廉宜。由於日本都市的房價較昂貴，不少定居於郊區的上班族，因加班或應酬而趕不上末班列車時，常以膠囊旅館做為淋浴及睡眠之所，有些膠囊旅館因此還販賣襯衫及襪子供替換。由於是日本特有，亦吸引不少外國自助旅行者為體驗而進住。
第一家膠囊旅館是位於大阪的Capsule Inn大阪，由日本建築師黑川紀章設計，位於大阪市梅田區，於1979年2月1日開始營業，當時的租金為每晚1,600日圓。
Questions:
1. What you think this capsule hotel ?
2. Is it safe?
Squeezing into a capsule hotel room in Japan (Associated Press)
TOKYO – Tokyo is known for being densely populated and crowded. Living space is at a premium; hotel rooms are small or expensive or both.
Enter the capsule hotel, where a tube-like pod barely bigger than a coffin offers a bed for the night at low cost.
The capsule concept has been around for at least 30 years, starting out as lodging for businessmen working or partying late who missed the last train home and needed a cheap place to crash.
And judging from the dark suits and ties of the patrons entering and exiting the Capsule & Sauna Century Shibuya in Tokyo, the cramped beds remain largely a businessman's special. But budget travelers and other folks curious about a unique lodging experience use them too. So I decided to try it on a trip to Japan this fall, along with a visit to the hotel sauna.
At 5 foot 10 and 175 pounds (about 1.8 meters tall and 70 kilograms), I am almost exactly average size for an American. But in Japan, I felt oafishly big. In a sushi restaurant, I nearly knocked over all the patrons trying to squeeze past to my seat. On the metro, my heft encroached on to a second seat, often meaning the only open seat on the train was the one next to me. The pajamas thoughtfully provided by some of the other hotels where I stayed left me feeling like a sausage.
The Century capsule hotel exacerbated this feeling. I felt cramped from the moment I checked in, when I traded street shoes for hotel slippers too small for my feet. The sole elevator serving 10 stories was slightly larger than an airplane bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms, each floor of the hotel has a shared bathroom with several stalls and urinals (no women were on the premises). In a seated position, my knees nearly touched the door to the stall.
Then there was the actual "room." I splurged on "Deluxe" accommodation for 4,000 yen (roughly $50). My tube was long enough for me to lie down with an inch or two to spare. I could sit up, barely. And there was enough space for my small daypack next to me.
The capsules line a darkened room, stacked in twos like bunk beds on the 10th floor of the hotel. With a potential 32 guests in one room — more on lower floors — it's quite crowded.
There is no room for luggage. Checking in, you get a key to a locker (think small ones at the gym) on the second floor. It's big enough to hang a suit and leave the contents of your pockets while you hit the shared sauna and bath.
I'm sure a therapist would brand me repressed based on my sporadic dreams of showing up to work or an important function in my pajamas or birthday suit. But what about the opposite? In my trip to the sauna, I showed up clothed to a place where everyone else was naked.
When I rode the elevator to the shower and bath area on the third floor, I wore the snug hotel-supplied boxers and robe. The elevator let out into an empty room with cubbies, stacked towels and sinks and mirrors. To get to the bath and sauna, you need to slide open a giant steamed-up glass door. On the other side is no-clothes land. I blithely entered clothed, to the consternation of the men inside.
So I went back, ditched the clothes in a cubby and re-entered. But what next? Two large baths and a series of hand shower hoses with small stools reminiscent of hair-cutting stations at a salon were in the outer sauna area and a door led to the dry sauna.
After a ridiculous, pantomimed, naked conversation with a local, I showered, seated at one of the wash stations. Then I went into the sauna. I've never been in a sauna with a TV before. Nice touch, though the programming seemed to be a Japanese combination of game show and infomercial for a weight loss program, probably aimed at me.
When my body core temperature neared critical, I went out to the bath. First the cold, which nearly sent me into shock. Then the hot, much better, but quite crowded. Another wash off at the showering station and I figured it was time to turn in.
Climbing into the capsule takes a bit of maneuvering. I kept imagining climbing into a torpedo tube on a submarine, but fortunately no one fired me out.
The TV mounted in the ceiling offered more game shows and an adult channel, along with headphones to better listen. A dimmable light and built-in alarm clock rounded out the amenities.
I closed the blind at my feet and conked out. With a few dozen other people coming into the room through the night and clambering into their own capsules, it made for a less-than-stellar night's rest.
Really, a capsule hotel seems just like a youth hostel, but with a tad bit more privacy. Rather than open bunk beds in a common room, you get a little enclosed pod in a common room. The sauna and shared baths were clean and refreshing, but the heavy smoking in many common areas was less so.
All in all, I'd say a capsule hotel is worth a visit just to say you've done it. But don't expect a restful night. And depending on your size, you might emerge feeling like a giant.
