A Japanese cafe for writers struggling with deadlines provides a unique service: They'll pressure you to keep working and won't allow you to leave until you're done

• A Japanese cafe provides the unique service of pressuring writers into meeting their deadlines.
• Customers can choose, "mild," "regular," or "hard" modes and fill in their work goals upon arrival.

A Japanese cafe in Tokyo has developed a unique solution to keep writers (or anyone) on a deadline from taking their foot off the gas — by having customers pay staff to pressure them to complete their work.

The "Manuscript Writing Cafe" in the city's Koenjikita district has 10 seats catered to manga artists, writers, and editors who want to buckle down with an unlimited supply of coffee and tea.

The catch — you're not going to be allowed to pack up and leave for the day until you've finished your work.

The cafe provides a goal-tracking system that requires customers to write down their work goals for the day before settling in.

Besides recording their time in and time out from the cafe, customers also have to tell the cafe staff whether they want to beaver away at their tasks on mild, regular, or hard modes.

The cafe staff then tailors the intensity of their monitoring service based on what customers pick, per Reuters.

Mild-mode customers will get a gentle check-in at the counter on whether the task was completed. Regular-mode customers will get an hourly prodding.

Those looking to work under more intense pressure can opt for the "hard" mode, which involves a staff member constantly hovering over their shoulders and watching them work.

According to one of the cafe's rules, customers are not supposed to leave the store until they accomplish their work goals. To further motivate them, the cafe also has a board that lists the names of everyone who left without completing their tasks for the day.

Speaking to Reuters, the cafe's owner, Takuya Kawai, said he was there to "support" his customers rather than monitor them.

"The cafe went viral on social media, and people are saying the rules are scary or that it feels like being watched from behind," said the 52-year-old writer.

"As a result what they thought would take a day actually was completed in three hours, or tasks that usually take three hours were done in one," he added.

Kawai said he also allows customers to extend their working hours past closing time — as long as they pay the cafe's charges of approximately $1 for the first 30 minutes, and $2.34 for every hour after that.

Blogger Emiko Sasaki told Reuters the cafe allowed her to get work done instead of being distracted by social media.

"It's good to be able to concentrate on writing," who got three articles written in three hours.