New York Times Gets Small: Yurts in Alaska, Capsules in Japan

National Postal Museum, Curatorial Photographic Collection;

Two interesting articles in the New York Times about living in small, and odd, spaces; one by choice and the other by necessity.

Bretwood Higman and Erin McKittrick live in a yurt in Alaska with their 11 month old son, high speed internet but no running water or toilet. They walk for a living. While the architectural terminology leaves a bit to be desired ("their lives unfold under the conical eaves of a Mongolian yurt"), Sarah Maslin Nir captures the scene, and the challenges.

How big or small your living space is, according to Ms. McKittrick, is a matter of perspective. When she's cooking, she imagines the kitchen is the entire tent. "I like having only one room," she said. "It means you can live in a small space and have it feel big."

More in the New York Times

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times; slideshow here

Capsule hotels were built to accommodate salarymen who missed the last train home; the Hotel Shinjuku's 510 capsules are getting a bit shabby, but are now accommodating full time residents. Atsushi Nakanishi pays 59,000 yen a month, or about $640, and considers himself lucky to have it.

But then it has a locker, communal bath, fresh linen and a sauna, and is probably spotlessly clean. More in the New York Times

And its gotta be better than Living in an Internet Café