Capsule Hotel

Imagine you're a Japanese businessman/woman tired after a long day's work that includes "Nomikai" (the social aspect of the Japanese workplace where you eat and drink with fellow employees), you live about an hour away from home and it's already too late to take a train (which usually stop operating around midnight)....what do you do? The answer is you check-in at a capsule hotel! These unique hotels offer very affordable accommodations for people who basically need a place to shower and sleep for the night. They are very common throughout Japan and I recently got the chance to stay in one; it's been something I always wanted to do for some reason! There was a two-day Kali seminar in Roppongi so rather than take the 1hr and 40 minute train ride from Yokosuka each day, it was just more logical to just stay overnight in a capsule hotel; especially after an intense session from Mandala Eric from Pekiti Tirsia France:

       
The capsule hotel is exactly what it sounds like, a very small compartment about 6' long by 4' wide and about 4' tall stacked one on top of another:

Each capsule comes with a small TV, radio, and alarm clock along with a small reading light as well as air control:

 

  
It's understandable for some people to feel a little claustrophobic being enclosed in such a tight space, but for me it was actually quite cozy. The front desk issued me a locker just barely big enough to fit a small backpack and hang up my jacket.    

 

The bathrooms were very clean and offered all the amenities of home such as lotion, gel, razors, blow dryers, and even sterilized hair brushes.

 

   

The shower was your typical Japanese style bath house set-up where it's divided into three stations. If you've seen the movie Mr. Baseball then you'll know what I'm talking about. There's a place where you squat down on a stool and wash yourself with soap/shampoo, then you bathe in a hot tub and afterwards rinse off. But there's a very strict tattoo policy here in Japan (for fear that you are a Yakuza, Japanese mafia) that won't allow people to enter these type of places. Luckily, the hotel staff was unaware of my ink but in fear of getting kicked-out, I decided to quickly shower in the third station and cover up my tattoo as much as possible with another towel.

The one night only cost me about $35 USD which was quite the bargain! This was something Bern would never do (women are separated from the men) so experiencing it just once was something I'll never forget about Japan.