Japanese Accommodation

(Tokyo hotel room)

Japan is not exactly a cheap country in which to travel. An apple here costs as much as I've paid for a room in other countries. Transportation and accommodation are two of the greatest expenses facing the casual traveler. In Japan, there are a few ways to mitigate the expense of both of these, but for this post I'll focus on sleeping (mostly because I'm beginning to get quite tired).

1. Staying with family or friends.

Not really too much to say about this. Either you know someone living here who is willing to give you some space and access to a toilet and shower, or you don't. (I guess you can use the internet or social media or couchsurfing.com or something resourceful like that - I guess)

2. Guest House

(Kyoto Guest House)

Not a guest house like a small, quaint hotel with a few rooms to rent (although these are great options), but a guest house like hey, here's a house of mine, want to rent it out for a few days? This is an excellent option if you are planning on being in one location for at least a couple days, and especially if you have multiple people staying with you.

(Wonderful traditional atmosphere)

But what if you are travelling by yourself, and you are sick of staying in hostels?

3. Capsule Hotel

(Prepare for hibernatory containment)

It might look like a room full of sleeping pods on an interstellar voyage, just waiting for infiltration by stealthy face-huggers, but as long as you are willing to follow a few simple rules (and possibly ignore any onslaughts of acute claustrophobia) these places are great. Simply leave all your luggage in a locker and change into the provided pajamas (that's a Japanese word, isn't it?). Often whatever else you might need for your stay is also provided - toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, towels, etc.

After changing, feel free to head toward the onsen or public bath for some cleaning and relaxing before bed, and have a massage or drink with your fellow capsulites. Then slip into your cozy room for the night.

All capsules are equipped with such luxuries as: a pillow, a blanket, a small shelf to put something small on, and a light. They also usually include a small TV!

I watched the news on this one, but not being able to understand anything except the weather, I tried to change the channel. After pushing the "down" button numerous times, I realized I was just switching between two different channels. Ok, I thought to myself, it's only a capsule, maybe it just has two channels. So I tried the "up" channel button - numerous Japanese shows flashed before the screen. Only after hitting the "down" button again did I realize that this control was changing between the normal channels and one dedicated channel, which now happened to have a girl washing the floor in her underwear. After waiting a few minutes (solely out of curiosity), another girl appeared, scrubbing a different floor, also in her undergarments. Apparently the floors were very dirty because they worked for quite a while, and very vigorously, but based upon the camera angle and focus points, I don't think the floors were of primary concern. This is what I fell asleep to.

Thank you capsule TV "down" button.