And Now We Have Cry Rooms! Apka Apna Kok Bhawan

“Cry rooms? Like, a room to cry? Right…” Yes! 

The Japanese have excited our lives in many ways, from karaoke to emoji to anime to Nintendo. And now we present to you cry rooms!

1. It isn’t new in Japan to find “quirky” hotels and rooms. The city of Tokyo is filled with “Love Hotels,” hotel rooms for romantic short stays. There are 1.4 million couples visiting love hotels every day! In “Cuddle Cafes,” men pay an exorbitant price to sleep with a girl.

2. It was reported that Tokyo Hotels offer rooms especially for women to cry to combat stress.

3. Cry rooms contain warm sheets, tissues, eye masks and can be reserved for 10,000 Japanese Yen (about $85) per day.

4. Besides films like Forrest Gump, women may also read sad Manga or watch Tearjerker films in cry rooms. “It’s a pretty genius idea,” says Jezebel.

5. Cry rooms provide women with privacy and safety to release their tears freely and without judgement. After a stressful fight with your teenager, husband and boss, all you need is a cosy atmosphere, weepy movies and tissues on hand!

6. However, emotional release isn’t limited to Japan. Throughout the world, many cities have introduced anger rooms in which customers can vent their rage by destroying objects. London also launched a “Rage Club”.

7. It is common for all of these services to offer a safe environment, so people can express their sadness without judgement, boosting emotional well-being in people. The Therapeutic Servicescapes concept outlines how service providers can create an environment where people can effectively release their pain.

8. We found that the therapeutic environment at Lourdes was crucial to both men and women, even though many of the Japanese services are targeted towards women.

9. Nonetheless, considering patriarchal norms, these emotional release spaces can be crucial in times of anxiety and mental distress for men too.

10. In the UK, male suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50. In India and US, cases of male suicide are four times higher than female suicide rates!

With that shocking stat in front of you, we find it is beneficial not to suppress but let those tears flow unhindered. Having a safe place to do it in, away from home and work, strikes as brilliant. Nevertheless, in Japan, cry rooms are only for women, which can sound discriminatory, but considering it is Japan, sometimes cultural ideas about gender are different from those in the west. Even so, Japanese Men might also like to have a good cry in cry rooms at times? What do you think?