Back when I was single, I did a fair bit of traveling around Japan, hitchhiking or riding trains on “Youth 18” tickets, which allow you to go anywhere in Japan for around $25 a day, as long as you don’t mind taking the slow local trains. (Poor gaijin like me who live in Japan don’t get to buy the spiffy Japan Rail tickets that tourists coming in from overseas have access to.) During my travels, I’ve stayed at various places, including conventional “business” hotels, youth hostels, minshuku (a kind of Japanese bed & breakfast), and “saunas” (a public bath with a sauna and a large central room where you can sleep on the floor for free). But perhaps the most unique overnight experiences I had were staying at capsule hotels, the miniature honeycomb-like hotel rooms found in larger Japanese cities. Inside your capsule you have everything you need: bed, blanket, pillow, a little TV, radio with alarm, and a curtain for privacy. Capsule hotels generally have large communal baths and saunas. They’re cheap, too: you can stay in the heart of Tokyo’s Shibuya district for around $35 or so. If you visit Japan, be sure and plan at least one night in a capsule hotel!
Capsule hotels, a unique experience you can have in Japan.
