My Experience with Capsule Hotels

As I mentioned in my previous post both myself and James had pretty much reached our limits with Hotel Neo and decided to spend our last night in Tokyo in a capsule hotel called “Hotel Dandy”.  I’d heard about capsule hotels before and seen them on documentaries but I had no idea what to expect. To be honest though, at this point, spending a night in a Turkish prison for sex offenders seemed more appealing than sleeping in Hotel Neo. My reasoning for this was that I had already been so thoroughly raped by that abominable institution that anything that could be done to me in Turkish prison would ultimately be a step down and therefore not as bad. It brings me great pleasure therefore to tell you that “Hotel Dandy” was not nearly as bad as Turkish prison, in fact I can almost certainly say it was entirely rape free, which at this point was a bonus that could only be matched by free Wi-Fi…which they had!

What you can expect in a capsule hotel.

As I exited the lift on the sixth floor of a tall, narrow building in the buzzing district of Ueno I was greeted by a rather pleasant scene. Clean carpets and marble floors that stretched to a reception behind which were several clean cut employees wearing waistcoats and bow ties. Men could be seen casually ambling to and from the bar/lounge area in these Japanese style bathrobes called Yukatas. Music was playing gently in the background and there was just a really warm and pleasant atmosphere about the place. I approached the counter nervously, aware of the fact that apart from James who had checked in the day before I was the only foreigner in the place and that people had been refused admission in the past for not speaking enough Japanese. I recited my carefully rehearsed lines and with only a small bit of help from another man in the que I received the key to my locker and the number of my capsule.

Hotel Dandy from the outside

In the lift up to the eighth floor where my capsule was located I was accompanied by a man who can only be described as being fantastically overweight. He was casually wearing his Yukata undone exposing, with pride I might add, his massive hairy stomach to the world or at least the only other person in the lift…me. I should probably mention at this point that this was a men only capsule hotel and as such had a very casual, “gentlemens club” feel to it and although I was very far out of my element I found it extremely enjoyable. I soon found James who was staying in the capsule next to mine.  He gave me a brief run down of what it was like before I climbed the small ladder to enter my capsule.

I must say at this point that my capsule was exactly how I had imagined it. Very small but comfortable and quite well equipped…well more than I expected from what is essentially a glorified coffin. There was a T.V, a radio alarm clock, a blind that I could pull down to give myself some privacy and enough room to sit up which was all I needed. Near my head on the wall was a poster advertising pornographic movies that I presume could be viewed on the television. The fact that each capsule was separated from the corridor by only a blind and the fact that I could already hear other guests snorring became apparent. It also occurred to me that if I could hear snorring then it was more than likely I could hear other unpleasant sounds, the onomatopoeic description of which I shall spare you. Finally as my eyes moved from the pornographic advertisement to my surroundings and then back again it occurred to me that they obviously clean the linen after each guest but I began to wonder how often did they wash the plastic walls. I quickly adjusted myself to ensure that none of my possessions or any parts of my body were in contact with these parts of the capsule.

Deciding it was too early to go to sleep, I made my way down to the seventh floor where the onsen (Japanese style spa) was located.  As I made my way through the Thai style massage parlour I lazily scanned the menus briefly wondering to myself what the Japanese for “Happy Ending” was. I casually glanced over the divider to see a dainty looking Japanese woman (I highly doubt they were actually Thai) driving her elbows into a heavy-set mans pudgey back. Groans and slaps of pleasure were in the air, not all of which I fully recognised nor did I want to recognise. I quickly moved on trying to ignore all the stares I was attracting by being one of only two Caucasian people in the place. I disrobed and entered the onsen. I went through the standard practise of washing and cleaning myself before climbing in o the piping hot bath in between one frail looking “salary man” and another larger sized gentleman both of which gave me slightly perplexed looks. This was an outdoor bath that was located on the roof of the building and as the pleasurably cool breeze blew across my face whipping up steam from the water I gazed out over the glittering Tokyo skyline and felt that wonderfully calm sense of zen that can only be achieved in an onsen wash over me.

The Rooftop Outdoor Onsen in Hotel Dandy

  Although both me and James agreed there was an ever so slightly odd air about the place that was not quite Yakuza but not fully legitimate, we both enjoyed “Hotel Dandy” immensely. The capsule hotel is one of those things that is so odd that I can’t imagine it existing anywhere else but Japan but somehow, like many of Japans other weird creations, it just works. If you ever find yourself in Ueno in need of a reasonably priced place to stay I recommend “Hotel Dandy” if only for the experience which I’m sure would be a pleasurable one.

My Time in Tokyo Part Three and Why I Hate Hotel Neo

Right, I prefaced this blog with the statement that I’d try to prevent it from turning into a collection of rants and although I feel I’ve only kept to that somewhat I’m going to completely abandon all discourse and just go for it with this post.

To cut sharply to the chase, we we’re sent down to Tokyo for a conference on volunteering overseas as well as to meet with our in-country representative (essentially our supreme baby sitter while we are abroad). The purpose of this is to mark the half way point of our time in Japan and make sure none of us are on the verge of having some sort breakdown. All was lovely and joyous until after the conference. Myself and James, using our unparalleled negotiating skills (we basically just asked), managed to secure an extra few days in Tokyo for catching up with the other volunteers and other such merriments. Afterwards however we would have to find new accommodation. Due to our infinitely impressive short sightedness and our infinitely tight budget (well…my infinitely tight budget rather) we decided to stay in Hotel Neo, the cheapest accommodation we could find. I had previously prided myself on my viewpoint of “as long as it’s dry and has a shower, I don’t care about the accommodation”.  This was my line of thinking at the time, please note the key words in that sentence; “AT-THE-TIME”.

James' Cell in Hotel Neo

We disembarked from our train in the district of Minami-Senju where the hotel was located.  Immediately we noticed that the area was different from most of the places we had been in Tokyo so far. It was smaller, more quaint and frankly a bit dirty. It had a grim, dusty train yard feel about it but we pressed onwards knowing that our bargain of a Hotel would make it worth while…how wrong we were. The first warning bells began ringing in my head when we bought our tickets to stay there from a vending machine located at the reception area. I found it strange but told myself to think nothing of it. Vending machines are popular in Japan and they use them for all sorts of weird and not so wonderful things (more on that later). We handed the man behind the glass our tickets and proceeded to our rooms.  Upon opening the door to my room I was greeted by what could only be described as a prison cell. It was a room approximately one third the size of a matchbox (in reality about the size of your average bathroom), that was furnished with nothing other than a bed a small table and a T.V. It had a small window and blank white walls rising up to a blank white ceiling. As the steel door clunked shut behind me I found myself struck for words. My thoughts began to drift to our friends staying together in the Tokyo volunteers apartment and how warm and friendly and how casual their stay would be. I envisioned them sitting around laughing, joking and catching up while I dropped onto the side of the bed and starred blankly at the dull white wall. With these unpleasant thoughts swirling around in my head I decided to investigate the facilities of the hotel or rather lack thereof. Wondering how I was going to bathe in the morning I meandered my way down to the second floor where the bathing facilities were located. I’ve stayed in youth hostels with shared bathrooms before and largely its completely fine but this time I happened upon one single, gritty, pay as you go, coin operated shower that served the hotel. As I starred at it, my jaw slightly ajar a man who genuinely looked homeless shuffled passed me to use some of the coin operated washing machines located next to the shower…and I stress THE shower…singular…one…for everyone. Upon returning to our rooms I encountered James chuckling at the depressing absurdity  of the situation. I managed to force a smile but was feeling quite miserable.

Hotel Neo rocking the Dull White and Sea foam Green cobination.

 Now although I am sure there are volunteers in Africa who have to stay in mud huts and glorified card board boxes for accommodation while travelling but for me it wasn’t the terrible quality of the hotel that got to me, it was the sense of separation and isolation. The sense that every night me and James would have the leave the other volunteers and trek halfway across Tokyo to our dingy white cells in dusty Minami-Senju while they would still be out having fun. Perhaps it’s an illogical hatred or perhaps I’m just pinning the unpleasantness of the situation on an easy target either way both me and James ended up reviling the hotel so much that we decided to spend our last two nights in Tokyo in a capsule hotel despite this being of considerable extra expense to the both of us. This however, was a fantastic decision and it considerably altered both our moods for the better. So in summation, while cheap accommodation can be tolerable never underestimate the values of convenience, cleanliness and atmosphere because otherwise you could very easily end up staying in what essentially feels like a prison and believe me when I say Hotel Neo certainly was one.