Lomography

Well, of course the king of all lodging possibilities is the capsule hotel. Something so unique it must be Japanese! The capsule hotel is the ultimate way to save room and money. As a guest you are leaving your belongings in a locker room and you will receive slipper and a bathrobe (yukata). In that sexy outfit you make your way up to your room, which is about 2m long and 1m wide.

Well, of course the king of all lodging possibilities is the capsule hotel. Something so unique it must be Japanese! The capsule hotel is the ultimate way to save room and money. As a guest you are leaving your belongings in a locker room and you will receive slipper and a bathrobe (yukata). In that sexy outfit you make your way up to your room, which is about 2m long and 1m wide.

It is the smallest hotel room in the world. We went to the Capsule Inn in Akihabara, which is the electronic retailers center in Tokyo. There are several boxes on one floor one above the other. But strangely enough you feel a greater amount of privacy than in a hostel, because your head lays totally sheltered. You can’t close a door to the box but still the level of nightly silence is appropriate. For my size the approximations were quite alright, if you are a giant this must be hell. There is a TV-set and a radio in your “room” and some shelves. All very smoothly and ergonomic shapes, for design-freaks it must be a delight, especially as it is rather cheap to sleep over in the tiny design unit…

There are some cons though. Check in time is only at 5 p.m, because before that time the hotel is used by all these Japanese salary men, who work at night and want to sleep at least for some hours during midday. And if your bag is not as small as a poodle you will leave it at the counter, because the lockers are quite small. But you are not likely to be robbed, at least not by Japanese. They just do not have that kind of naughty behavior. And sexes are separated so you have to leave your partner at a different floor. There is also a lobby with internet-connection.

The first capsule hotel was built in 1979 in Osaka by the genius Kisho Kurokawa and the futuristic idea spread all over the island. The Japanese have a great passion for automats, so this idea was ready to be exposed to the sleepers as well.

Links: http://www.capsuleinn.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel