When I first came to Tokyo I was planning to do this. It was on my list of things to do, along with; ride the Shinkansen, read Japanese manga, etc. However, I’ve only just got round to doing it now, after being here for over 3 years.
People have suggested exporting the concept of the Japanese capsule hotel to other parts of the world, but I can’t see it being popular in places like US and Europe. For me it remains something which can only exist in Japan. I personally think it’s a shame as I very much enjoyed my stay at one in Shibuya, central Tokyo on Monday night, but for precisely that reason – it’s unlike any other accommodation I’ve stayed in before. It’s bizarre for me but at the same time exhilarating. Not having a clue what to do, puzzling over truly baffling flow charts and diagrams in the lobby and in the elevator, not knowing what the elevator door was going to reveal when they slid open on curiously labelled floors. It turns out the Rest Room was not in fact a toilet but was filled with massage chairs and snoring salarymen with the shopping channel playing on a huge flatscreen TV. It was then I had my first massage chair experience.
After you get your ticket to stay the night from the vending machine in the lobby, you receive your first key. This key opens a small locker in a carpeted area off the lobby in which you must remove your shoes (as is usual in any home or place of lodgings in Japan), and place them in the locker. You then trade this key for another, larger key which opens another locker on the second floor, accessible by the nearby elevator. The larger locker upstairs contains your relax wear. Kind of short pyjamas with a distinctly Japanese feel as the two large sides of the loose jacket cross each other and tie off to the side, the sleeves are short but gape open around the wrists like a yukata. You also get a small and a large towel for bathing. This is where I would be heading next I had decided as I was feeling pretty terrible having been out all day in the Tokyo summer heat and pollution. The bathroom is a typical Japanese sento style affair with two large public baths, one hot, one cold. You shower first on a stool then cover yourself as best you can with your smaller towel and slip into one of the main baths. I didn’t stay long as I was curious about my capsule on the 7th floor.
It was as expected: a capsule. I was chuckling to myself at the incredulity of it, and also at the guy beneath me who was snoring loudly with one foot sticking out of his pod. I guessed there was more than a few drunk guys who had to be at work the following day. I used a small ladder to climb into the capsule, which was suprisingly comfortable to lie in, just not built for doing anything else.
I turned on the TV and watched that for a while. There was an adult channel which I heard was rumoured to exist in each capsule hotel, and that proved to be accurate. I can’t imagine how anyone can watch it however, surrounded by strangers. The thought crossed my mind of previous guests that had stayed in pod 712 and that made it all the more difficult to sleep.
I awoke early and the view from my floor allowed me to get a decent shot of people walking to work. There was a Matsuya restaurant across the street so I had breakfast there. Sausage, egg, salad, miso soup, nattou, dried seaweed and pickles. Another must-do crossed off my list, I thought.