Capsule hotel ( ja, カプセルホテル, kapuseru hoteru), also known in the Western world as a pod hotel, is a type of hotel developed in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

that features many small bed-sized rooms known as capsules. Capsule hotels provide cheap, basic overnight accommodation for guests who do not require or who cannot afford larger, more expensive rooms offered by more conventional hotels. The first capsule hotel in the world opened in 1979 and was the Capsule Inn Osaka, located in the Umeda district of Osaka, Japan and designed by Kisho Kurokawa. From there, it spread to other cities within Japan. Since then, the concept has further spread to various other territories, including Belgium, China, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Poland and Canada.

Description

The guest room is a chamber roughly the length and width of a single bed, with sufficient height for a hotel guest to crawl in and sit up on the bed. The chamber walls may be made of wood, metal or any rigid material, but are often fibreglass or plastic. Amenities within the room generally include a small television, air conditioning, an electronic console, and power sockets. The capsules are stacked side-by-side, two units high, with steps or ladders providing access to the second level rooms, similar to

bunk beds A bunk bed is a type of bed in which one bed frame is stacked on top of another, allowing two or more beds to occupy the floor space usually required by just one. They are commonly seen on ships, in the military, and in hostels, Dormitory, dor ...

. The open end of the capsule can be closed with a curtain or a solid door for privacy, but can be locked from the inside only. CapsuleHotelCapsule

Like a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

, many amenities are communally shared, including toilets,

shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers have temperature, spray pressure and adjustable showerhead nozzle. The simplest showers have a ...

s, wireless internet, and

dining room A dining room is a room (architecture), room for eating, consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically ...

s. In Japan, a capsule hotel may have a communal bath and sauna. Some hotels also provide restaurants, snack bars or bars (or at least vending machines), pools, and other entertainment facilities. There may be a lounge with upholstered chairs for relaxing, along with newspapers and reading material. Capsule hotels vary in size, from 50 or so capsules to 700, and primarily cater to men. Some capsule hotels offer separate sections for male and female guests, or even separate floors and elevators. Clothes and shoes are exchanged for a '' yukata'' and slippers on entry, and a towel and

bathrobe A bathrobe, also known as a housecoat or a dressing gown, is a loose-fitting outer garment (a robe) worn by people, often after washing the body or around a pool. A bathrobe is considered to be very informal clothing, and is not worn with every ...

may also be provided. Luggage and valuables are usually stored in

lockers A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...

or—if available—in-room

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and ...

s. Guests are asked not to smoke or eat in the capsules.

Customer base

The benefit of these hotels are their convenience and low price, usually around ¥2000–4000 (USD –) a night. In Japan, capsule hotels have been stereotypically used by Japanese salarymen who may be too drunk to return home safely, have missed the last train of the day to make a return trip home due to working late hours, or are too embarrassed to face their spouses. During the Japanese Recession, some unemployed or underemployed workers who had become homeless during the crisis temporarily rented capsules by the month. As of 2010, these customers made up 30% of visitors at the Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 in Tokyo.

Criticism and disadvantages

Due to the arrangement of capsules, ''Web Urbanist'' has compared the beds in capsule hotels to corpse drawers in a morgue.Japan's most stylish/strange hotels
/ref> In addition, because of the small interior space, ''Forbes'' advised that claustrophobic guests should not use capsule hotels. Some hotels may not provide air conditioning in the capsules, leading to poor air flow, especially with the privacy curtain or door shut; furthermore, due to the close proximity of guests, pods with thin plastic walls easily transmit sounds made by other guests bumping into the walls. Because some capsule hotels are designed for single-night stays, guests intending to stay for more than one day must check out and back in again every day.

References

External links

A list of capsule hotels
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capsule Hotel Hotel types Hotels in Japan Homelessness Japanese inventions 1979 introductions 1979 establishments in Japan

Description

Customer base

Criticism and disadvantages

See also

References

External links