Capsule Hotel

I’ve been travelling to different parts of Japan for the past few years. During those trips, I’ve stayed at all kinds of lodging.
I’ve stayed in business hotels, international hotels, ryokan (both semi-fancy and basic), minshuku and hostels. Until tonight, I’ve never stayed in a capsule hotel. Now I’m going to be in one for 2 days.
Now, the question always comes up. “why”? Well, there’s a few good reasons for that.
First, it’s on the Yamanote near JR Akibahara-eki. That means it’s on the loop and will save a lot of time coming and going over the next 48 hours.
Second, the price isn’t too bad. I got charged Y3700. It’s Y500 more than I usually pay for Tokyo lodging, but it’s worth it for the extra hour I save coming and going to the hotel I usually stay at.
Third, I’ve never stayed at a capsule hotel before. And capsule hotels, like them or not, are iconic places of modern Tokyo.
The ritual of staying here is different. First off, you put your shoes in a shoe locker next to the check in desk. You hand the clerk the key to your shoe locker and the night’s room charges and he checks you in. You get your capsule assignment and a matching key for the lockers in the locker room on the second floor. You change out of your street clothes into yukata for lounging about the hotel. The shower room and communal smoking lounge are also on the second floor.

My assigned bunk, #703…

…was on the bottom left of this row.
Each capsule is a self sufficent sleeping space with its own alarm clock, lights, TV, vent and radio controlled by a handy dandy control panel on your right as you lay down inside.

Capsule Control Panel. Also makes a handy shelf.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s enough room for sleeping one person. And that’s about it. The capsule was just longer than 2 meters and a bit over 1 meter in height and width. I could sit up inside the capsule, but that’s about it.

How my capsule looks when I’m sitting up in it
If you want to do anything else besides sleep, you have to leave your capsule and putter about in the common areas of the hotel. Besides the 2nd floor facilities, there’s vending machines for coffee and beverages as well as for neatly pressed dress shirts and underwear (!) in the lobby. There’s also broadband, wired in the common areas and wireless on the capsule floors. The router on my floor was not connecting to the internet, a common theme of this trip. So to get emails, I was forced to drag my MacBook to the common areas to plug in. Once online, it was really fast!
Capsule hotels are generally considered the lodging of last resort, usually for salarymen who missed the last train home after a night of carousing at the local izakaya. Because of this, there aren’t any real facilities for luggage, since who goes to work with a carry on, right? There is one luggage rack in the back of the lobby, but otherwise, luggage is locked and chained under the main staircase that leads to the second floor.
Now despite these drawbacks (and the feeling I was back in the dorm in college), I’d recommend staying at least one night in a capsule hotel. They are clean and safe (this IS Japan, remember?) and although most capsule hotels are men only, the one I stayed at reserved the top floor for women. That top floor had capsules, a common room and bath and shower rooms. Self contained capsule hotel in a capsule hotel.
Just don’t bring a lot of baggage with ya…