Kazushi Takahashi, a 22-year-old student in Tokyo, likes the privacy provided by closed individual rooms in Internet cafes, where he can surf the Web, play online games and read manga.
"I wouldn't be able to relax if people peek in a room I am in," he said.
What Takahashi doesn't know is that since last April people like him in Osaka and a few other prefectures don't have the privacy he enjoys in Tokyo's Internet cafes.