encase 復習
Robot porter, check-in staff at innovative Sasebo hotel
SASEBO, NAGASAKI PREF. – From the receptionist that does the check-in and check-out to the porter that’s an automated trolley taking luggage up to the room, this hotel in Nagasaki Prefecture, aptly called Weird Hotel, is “manned” almost totally by robots to save labor costs.
Hideo Sawada, who runs the hotel as part of the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park, insists using robots is not a gimmick but a serious effort to utilize technology and achieve efficiency.
The receptionist robot that speaks in English is a vicious-looking dinosaur, and the one that speaks Japanese is a female humanoid with blinking lashes.
（中略）
A giant robotic arm, usually seen in manufacturing, is encased in glass quarters in the corner of the lobby. It lifts one of the boxes stacked into the wall and puts it out through a space in the glass, where a guest can place an item in it, to use as a locker.
今回の単語は“encase”です。辞書には「…を［…に］完全に入れる［包む］〔in〕」（『ジーニアス英和辞典第四版』大修館書店）とあり、LDOCEには“to cover or surround something completely”とありました。「…の中に入れる」を意味する“en-”が“case”についた単語です。今回取り上げられているホテルは、長崎県のハウステンボス内にある「変なホテル」で、様々なメーカーのロボットがサービスを行うとの事です。人件費削減により低価格での宿泊を重視しているようです。ちなみに今日オープンだそうです。（Green）
