My Experience at a Japanese Capsule Hotel

I landed in Tokyo very early in the morning after an overnight flight from Bangkok. Sleepy and jet-lagged in the airport, I took a minute to purchase a SIM card from a nearby vending machine.

In Japan, everything can be bought from a vending machine.

Once I had my phone set up, I bought a can of iced coffee, picked up a city map from the tourist information center, and bought a ticket from Hanaeda Airport into Tokyo City. 

my SIM card package included instructions on how to make a paper crane!

Tokyo has two airports. The newer and larger, Narita, is a long train ride outside of Tokyo. Hanaeda is a lot closer, and it's easier to get into town from there.

a ticket from the airport into the city

I spent five days in Tokyo, and to save money (Tokyo can be a very expensive city), I made a booking at a capsule hotel.

I stayed at a capsule hotel in Narita Airport a few years ago, and you can read a little about my experience there HERE. That was very much an airport hotel, and was just a very easy place for travelers to rest on their way in or out of Tokyo.

This hotel, however, is a very traditional capsule hotel, the kind that is very popular with Japanese salarymen on business trips. I was the only foreigner there, and the youngest guest by about two decades.

the neighborhood where my capsule hotel was located

A capsule hotel (or "pod hotel") is a type of hostel with a number of tiny bed-sized private rooms. Each capsule is just a mattress and a sheet, and usually have an electrical outlet, a small TV, and a shelf to put your things on. They are very basic and cheap ways to stay when you are traveling in Japan. Capsule hotels are better than hostel dorms, though, because you have privacy (even if the room is very tiny).

coffee vending machine outside my hotel

Arriving at the tall and narrow building that held my hotel, the first thing I met was an entry room full of shoe lockers. In Japan, you absolutely must remove your shoes before entering a house or apartment. This hotel is very traditional, and has old-style tatami mats as flooring, so all guests were asked to remove their shoes before entering the hotel.

shoe lockers at the entrance

The hotel mainly caters to businessmen on short trips to Tokyo, and although it's small, it has all of the amenities that anyone would need. The bathroom is fully stocked with soaps, lotions, shampoos, disposable razors, and toothbrushes.

Every day when you arrive back at the hotel, the front desk supplies you with a new clean towel and a Japanese robe.

the washroom

There's even a little laundry area where you can wash and dry your clothes.

all the amenities you need

The capsules are so small that you wouldn't really want to spend any time in your room unless you are sleeping. The hotel has a small common room with comfy chairs and televisions. Each chair has an electrical outlet so that you can work on your computer or charge your phone, and everyone has a private TV so that they can watch whatever they want.

inside the hotel's public area

The hotel also has a beer vending machine, and every day all of these middle-aged salaraymen spend the evening hanging out in their robes eating hot noodles and drinking beer.

a Japanese beer vending machine

Comics are very popular in Japan, and the hotel even had a library of comic books that the guests enjoyed reading (all in Japanese, though). I have to say, it was a very comfortable place to stay for a few days.

comic books for guests to read

Except for the public bath, that is.

Like I said, this was a very traditional hotel. Instead of a private bathroom (or even a shared bathroom with private shower stalls), this hotel had only a traditional Japanese public bath.

The bath consisted of several small showers (with very hot water) where you can scrub yourself clean. There was also an onsen (hot spring) area. One bath was very hot, one was warm, the other was icy cold. Additionally, there was a hot sauna.

The only problem is, all of this is public. In Japan, these traditional baths are a public affair. People hang out at onsens for hours and hours relaxing and enjoying the natural spring water. I never soaked in the hot baths, though. I just showered as quickly as I could and hurried to get dressed in my robe.

I would have loved it, and wish I could have enjoyed the hot bath. I'm just not so in to sharing it with others!