Tokyo Hooters now offers rental work spaces, and they’re free for students
Casey Baseel yesterday



Service is perfect for mobile workers who don’t need to go to the office but do need to be around breasts.

Walk into just about any Starbucks in the Tokyo area on a weekday afternoon, and you’re likely to see at least one mobile professional with a laptop who’s simultaneously hard at work and sipping on a relaxing cup of coffee. But what if you don’t like coffee, or even delicious Japan-exclusive Frappuccinos? What if you prefer, say, breasts?

Then you’ll be happy to know that as of this month, you can also telecommute from the Hooters branch in Tokyo’s Ginza neighborhood. The restaurant chain, which professedly chaste regulars insist serves really tasty chicken wings, has teamed up with Spacee, a Japanese company which partners with Tokyo eateries to offer rentable work areas during the restaurants’ downtime.

Since March 23, the Ginza Hooters has designated 20 seats as Spacee works paces, which can be used in 30-minutes blocks for just 50 yen (US$0.47) as long as you’re registered with Spacee. The work spaces are available daily from 1 to 7 p.m., and while you’re under no obligation to order anything, but Spacee users who are feeling thirsty do receive discounts on selected beverages from the menu, which are, of course, served by Hooters waitresses wearing the chain’s traditional attire.



In touting the service, Spacee boasts that “Working in a different environment from an ordinary office can boost productivity, and well as promote the development of new ideas.” Several of those ideas are likely to be breast-related, but that might not really be a problem, considering that breasts are practically their own subsector of the Japanese economy.

The Hooters workspaces (which look to be primarily a desk and Internet access, so you’ll need to bring your own laptop) are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reservation required. Users will have to register with Spacee ahead of time, though, which can be done here, but there are no sign-up or membership fees.

Oh, and about the 50-yen fee for 30 minutes of work space time? It’s waived for students, who can study at them for free. Spacee users under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a guardian, though, so we might see some Tokyo fathers suddenly taking an active interest in their children’s education by volunteering to take them to Hooters to cram for upcoming tests.

Restaurant information
Hooters (Ginza branch) / フーターズ(銀座店)
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 8-5, Ginza Nine Building 1 2nd floor
東京都中央区銀座8-5 銀座ナイン1号館2階
Open 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. (Monday-Tursday, Sunday, holidays), 11 a.m.-4 a.m. (Friday-Saturday)
Website
Today, I learned that Hooters in Japanese is Fūtāzu.