Free soba and tempura in exchange for getting on the train a little earlier could be a tasty offer for Tokyo commuters who are sick of the “subway sandwich,” which has nothing to do with bread and everything to do with having your face smashed into a stranger’s armpit for the duration of your ride. The city’s transit system is so overloaded at peak hours, it has to hire literal “pushers” who physically cram as many people onto the trains as they can. Now, they’re hoping to tempt commuters on the frenetic Tozai line to help ease up the crunch.

As reported by the Japan Times, the Tokyo Metro Co. has launched a new program that rewards early birds noodles rather than worms. A two-week pilot program asks passengers to voluntarily stagger their commutes during morning rush hour in exchange for coupons for free meals at Metro An, a soba noodle shop affiliated with the transit company.

To participate, commuters have to sign up for the campaign and register their card information in advance before participating for 10 consecutive weekdays. And yes, there is a catch: volunteers will only get the coupon for a free bowl of noodles and tempura if 3,000 people participate. If only 2,500 sign up, they’ll just get noodles. If it’s only 2,000, they get a single piece of tempura. The trial runs through February 1st, so it remains to be seen whether a whole lot of people are going to alter their schedules and receive nothing but a piece of breaded shrimp for their efforts.

Of course, the Tokyo crunch is no joke, and less crowding is a reward in its own right. If you’ve never seen the in action, check out these videos demonstrating exactly how pushers make sure every single subway car is packed with human sardines and you’ll get the idea.

A series of sweaty portraits entitled “Tokyo Compression” captured by Hong Kong-based German artist Michael Wolf further illuminate the issue. Wolf minces no words on just how wild it gets, saying “Man is responsible for this himself – a dreadful system for people, and by people.”

Top photo by Takeshi Fujisawa/Flickr CC by 2.0

Inspired by the winding, cyberpunk-worthy passageways of modern-day Tokyo, these bookends invert expectations, shaped themselves like books but carved out to reveal city-based stories.

Most sculptural book-bracketing devices stand out as different from the volumes between them, but these read like novels set at either end of a shelf. Within the voids, detailed solids populate the urban landscape, from architectural elements right down to weeds and grit and grime.

Japanese designer Monde designed them as individual works but also to work in pairs, curving around and creating an implied scene. Hidden from view, this suggests thin passages behind your books — the result: a temptation to take volumes off the shelf for further exploration.

For anyone who has traveled the alleyways of Asia, from China to Japan, these will feel both dark and adventurous but perhaps also cozy and familiar at the same time. Monde also crafts other miniature urban scenes, but there is something special about these ones, sandwiched between walls that set creative limitations (but also create opportunities for cleverness.

A maze-like tower of voids and projections looms above the streets of Tokyo, offering residents cascading outdoor spaces all along the building’s roof and facade. ‘Tree-ness House’ by Japanese architect Akihisa Hirata takes inspiration from nature for this unusual design of stacked concrete boxes full of inward-facing private rooms as well as outward-facing terraces. It almost seems like you could get lost inside exploring all of its nooks and crannies.

Announced in 2010 and completed this year, ‘Tree-ness House’ aims to create a more dynamic experience for its residents with ambiguous interior and exterior spaces. Instead of stacking the floors on top of each other, individual private spaces are offset at various heights with ‘pleated’ openings making room for small gardens.

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The interior spaces are just as ambiguous, with staggered voids and glass walls offering glimpses of the terraces and the sky beyond them. For a better look at Tree-Ness house, inside and out, check out the website of photographer Vincent Hecht.

The exclusive experience of dining at this Tokyo restaurant, which serves just eight patrons a day, is not really about the food – though Saga Beef restaurant Sagaya-Ginza is not necessarily lacking in quality. It’s just that watching nature spring to life all around you, cycling through the seasons to represent some of Japan’s most striking natural beauty, tends to eclipse whatever’s on your plate. Art collective teamLab, known for their creative projection-based installations, created a multi-sensory immersive experience with ‘Worlds Unleashed and Then Connecting.’

In classic teamLab form, this projection is not just immersive, but also interactive, responding to the dishes as they’re placed on the table as well as movements of the diners and servers. While other well-known works by the collective tend to unfold within a larger space, like a warehouse or gallery, this installation is private and intimate.

“When a dish is placed on the table, the world contained within the dish is unleashed, unfolding onto the table and into the surrounding space,” the artists explain. “The worlds unleashed from each dish connect in the external space creating a new larger world. The worlds unleashed are affected by the other dishes on the table.”

“For example, a bird unleashed from one dish can perch on the branch of a tree unleashed from another. The trees that grow from each dish are not identical; their sizes and shapes are affected by the worlds unleashed by the other dishes on the table. These unleashed worlds are also affected by your behavior. If you stand still, a tiny bird might alight on your hand; if you move suddenly, it might fly away. The worlds unleashed from the dishes on the table influence each other, react to the actions of the visitors, and combine to create one single continuous world. The world is constantly changing from moment to moment and no two moments are alike.”

Every true bibliophile has gazed up at the seemingly endless shelves of books in a good bookstore or library and imagined gathering up a stack, finding a quiet nook and turning in for the night. In Japan (where else?) you can actually do just that in a library-themed hostel, though you might be too excited about your reading materials to get much sleep. The Book and Bed Hostel by Suppose Design Office features semi-private sleeping nooks built right into the bookshelves, so you can climb out and look for more books as often as you want.

The hostel has two locations – Tokyo and Kyoto – with rates starting at just $40 (4,445 yen) per night. In the true spirit of a hostel, everything is set up dorm style with shared bathrooms and nothing but curtains separating you from your neighbors, but considering the theme of the place, you probably don’t care. Book and Bed isn’t really about enjoying privacy or getting a good night’s sleep.

The Tokyo location features over 1,700 titles to choose from, stacked on floor-to-ceiling shelves. Climb the library ladders to reach the highest ones, and check out the featured books that have been hung from the ceiling as decor. Each sleeping nook is fitted with a backlight and an outlet, and there’s wifi, though you’ll probably be too busy reading to use it.

The Kyoto hostel is located just steps from many popular local attractions, like the Yasaka Shrine and the Nanzenji Temple. There’s a special selection of Kyoto-centric books in both English and Japanese. Both hostels offer striped robes and totes reading ‘Have a Book Day’ for purchase as souvenirs. You can see more photos on the Book and Bed Tokyo Instagram account.

“Book and Bed is an ‘accommodation bookshop.’ The perfect setting for a good nights sleep is something you will not find here. There are no comfortable mattresses, fluffy pillows nor lightweight and warm down duvets. What we do offer is an experience while reading a book (or comic book.) An experience shared by everyone at least once: the blissful ‘instant of falling asleep.’ It is already 2am but you think just a little more… with heavy drooping eye lids you continue reading only to realize you have fallen asleep.”

“Dozing off obliviously during your treasured pastime is the finest ‘moment of sleep,’ don’t you agree?”