Cultural—real:

coffins. The reference for today’s reader is to a vessel used to encase and bury corpses. The reference for an inhabitant of the novel’s world would encapsulate that as well, but would register a “coffin” primarily as a small, cheap place to sleep. It’s not difficult for the reader to realize, from context, that that’s what “coffin” means, though. It’s a common practice both in science fiction and reality, after all, English has a preference for assigning old words new values rather than making up new ones. Examples: mouse, desktop, trash. The effect of this and the following references to the real world is to make the world more accessible to the reader; without references to his or her own life, the reader can dismiss the story as completely unrelated to himself or herself.

twenty-first floor of the Chiba Hilton. There is, in fact, a Hilton in present-day Chiba, outside Tokyo. It does not, however, have twenty-one or more floors. It’s perhaps, reassuring to the reader that the Hilton chain still exists. In fact, many name brands are still present in Gibson’s book.

white Braun coffeemaker. Also exists:

(amazon.com)

Also, the drinking of coffee relates the world once again to our own; it’s conceivable that an octagon could serve the same function as caffeine, but the coffee is more accessible.

imitation ricepaper. An excellent example of a combination of the two halves of the novel’s cultural references—ricepaper is recognizable, imitation ricepaper is a little stranger.

Tokyo Bay. Another real geographical feature. And it turns out the real Chiba Hilton is also on the Bay!

(www1.hilton.com)

jockey. A reference to the person who rides a horse in a race, here applied to something else: someone who uses a computer deck for hacking-type excursions. Similar to “coffin.”