Those places cost a lot of money to facilitate. They need to be cleaned and maintained. They require larger bathroom facilities due to the lengths of stays which also need to be cleaned and maintained. They need to pay people to do that. I fully understand that most wages aren’t enough to live on, but this is a direct effect of minimum wage laws. We can have living wages or we can have nice things at the expense of others essentially. But we really can’t have both and I am getting sick and tired of all the gd whining.
I'm sorry that you are growing tired of your fellow humans merely expressing their discontent. Maybe you can help with a solution, since you've heard about people's concerns? I know I try in my small corner of the world to make things better for those around me.
Other countries have higher minimum wage but more "third spaces", so I don't think this argument holds water. Also if the minimum wage increases, that puts pressure to increase all other wages.
The connection between wages and the number of third spaces is a little dubious. But, the complaint about whinging is valid - "Why can't a commercial organization create a third space for me, according to how I'd like it to be, or evn how it used to be" is the whinge I hear. Third places exist, but if it's not your favorite Starbucks, well, just move on.
I remember reading how in Tokyo you can find a lot of niche places even deep in city, with explanation given by small-time tailor (not some expensive main street kind of place) being given as that what he pays to rent the place is cheap enough.
While I'm not an expert in things Japan, from what I've seen the way they zone cities is far more mixed than the US/Canada model which leads to different property pricing behavior. In addition older buildings value can drop far more quickly there than here.
