Japan's Capsule/Pod Hotels

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There is some interest around this topic, so I have decided to make a blog post just for it. Of my 14 nights in hotels, I opted to stay in Capsule/Pod hotels for eleven of those. I think most people would agree that that was too long an experiment, but looking back on it, it worked out fine. I stayed in two Capsule hotels, one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto. In each of those hotels, there were eight capsules to a room. My capsule room in Tokyo at the Hotel Nihonbashi Villa cost me just 18,100 Yen or roughly USD $165 for a seven night stay. My capsule room in Kyoto at the Capsule Ryokan Hotel cost me just 14,000 Yen or roughly USD $126 for a four night stay. The capsule room at the Capsule Ryokan Hotel was slightly nicer than my capsule room at the Hotel Nihonbashi Villa, but both were obviously very affordable.

I should also note that at the time of my visit, there were only two kinds of Capsule/Pod hotels. Those in which you enter/exit the capsule/pod from the side and those in which you enter/exit the capsule/pod from the end. I was only interested in trying the former and thus avoided the end entry/exit capsules as I thought those would simply be too loud to get any rest. I think that was also a good decision in case the capsule was too warm or cold, easier to change the temperature when a larger area that is the divider/door is facing where a different temperature of air was coming from.

In the end, it is not likely that you will get the same quality sleep in a capsule room as you would in a traditional western style hotel room. The reason is that in these capsule hotels, with eight or more capsules to a room, you tend to hear people in the room fumbling with keys or bags or lockers or phones, and even if they are trying to be quiet, if you are light sleeper like me, those things can wake you up. I didn't experience any drunks during my stay, but did experience a couple of unaware/inconsiderate people. One closed the door (you pull down a divider made of fabric that is about 1/4 inch thick that goes up/down kind of like a garage door) to his capsule and was talking on his phone (this at 3am), and even though he wasn't talking at normal volume, it got everyone's attention in the room.

Ok, let me compare/contrast the two rooms. My capsule in Tokyo was on the bottom "bunk", whereas my capsule in Kyoto was on the top. The bottom bunk was simply easier to get in/out of though I thought as the top bunk requires you to be able to lift your body weight up a couple of stairs that require some upper body strength.

In comparison, I thought the folks at the front desk were great at both places. They spoke English at Capsule Ryokan, but I didn't have trouble communicating with the folks at Hotel Nihonbashi Villa with even my very limited understanding of the Japanese language. Also, the size of the capsule in both hotels was similar in that they were both just over 6 feet long, had a width of about 3 feet and a height of about 3 feet. I could sit up within the capsule itself in both places and not hit my head on the ceiling of the capsule. I think the capsule in Kyoto was a bit longer though, maybe 6 feet 6 inches as I never noticed being able to touch both ends at the same time.

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa : Just two stops from Tokyo station on the Sobu line, get off at the Bakurocho stop and the hotel is very close to one of that station's exits. This hotel is also very close to the Sumo Wrestling stadium, Ryōgoku Kokugikan , as well as the Akihabara "Electric Town" area. In fact both of those destinations are about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the hotel. Western style shower stalls (4) and sinks were on the first floor, while toilets were on each floor other than the first. The clothes locker was really made to accommodate a suit and/or shirt, so only one of my bags could fit within the locker. However, I could put my other bag on top of the lockers and that worked out just fine. Within the capsule itself, the TV did not work, nor did the fan. The room was pretty well air conditioned, so if I felt warm I could just raise the capsule divider/door an inch or two and that let in plenty of cool air. They had a weird policy where you could not be in your capsule between the hours of 10am and 3pm. I think you could pay a little more to depart later, say 11am or noon, but I didn't make such a request. Lastly, I thought the futon/bedding within the capsule was fairly thin, so that also contributed slightly to being less comfortable than I had hoped. However, I was so exhausted at the end of each day, I still slept plenty well. I never once left the hotel thinking I needed more rest. Oh, and yes, if you chose to leave the hotel for any reason, they preferred that you leave the keys to your locker and such with them. When I left the hotel each day to go exploring, I would leave my clothes back with them at the front desk and they accommodated that need without issue.

Capsule Ryokan : This was fairly close to Kyoto station, maybe about an eight to ten minute walk from Kyoto Station. There was only one capsule room at this hotel, and that was on the first floor. There were two separate western style shower stalls each with a locking door, so you could have privacy in that way here. There were also two toilets on the first floor, but these were separate from the shower rooms. There were also a couple of sinks on the first floor just for the capsule room guests. There was just one locker afforded for each capsule, but it could easily accommodate both my bags and then some. Within the capsule itself, the TV, fan, and light all worked, but the TV did not have audio and I believe that was on purpose to keep it quiet in the capsule room. The capsule room itself was well air conditioned. This hotel allowed you to stay in your capsule at all hours of the day if you so chose. You did not have to return your locker key to the front desk if you chose to leave the hotel for dinner or the like. Lastly, upon my departure they gave me a parting give of a decorative pair of Chopsticks.

I should point out that I got fresh bedding every day at Hotel Nihonbashi Villa, where I only got fresh bedding once at Capsule Ryokan.

I found most of the people staying at these two places were younger people that would have been just as comfortable at a youth hostel. However, I was not the only one in my age group as I found others in my age group at both hotels. They are a good deal, and you really are there to explore, not just sit in your hotel room all day, so should you have the chance I would recommend you try at least a night in one of these type of hotels.

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Photos

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa
I was in capsule 301 for the week

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa
Capsule divider/door is made of a lightweight fabric, about 1/4" in thickness, that will let some light through. The door slides up and down much like a garage door, but does so silently

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa
Fresh Bedding

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa
Control end where clock, light, TV, and fan controls are located

Hotel Nihonbashi Villa
Not sure why the TVs were not working. I suspect because they had no way to control the audio level such that all of the capsule guests in a given room would not be inconvenienced

Capsule Ryokan Kyoto
I was in capsule 105 for my four days there

Capsule Ryokan Kyoto
Fresh bedding, and the TV works! No audio from the TV though to keep noise to a minimum in the capsule room.

Capsule Ryokan Kyoto
Control center end for alarm clock, TV, etc.