Everyone advises it, everyone talks about it: If you go to Japan , experience a capsule hotel to see how it is. This is a special experience and you can't do it anywhere else!....
So we book a night ( from 30 to 31/03 ) in a capsule hotel in Kiba, Tokyo. This is one of the only hotels to make double- capsule. We had the chance to spend that night together in a capsule, because most of capsule hotels separate the capsule by gender male / female ( and the capsules for women are not very common ).
The hotel is quite centrally located, it is just next to the subway station Kiba and in front of it, there is also a department store and restaurants . There are 2 floors for capsules and a floor with showers and a big bathroom. Yes, in this type of hotel, it is expected to share common places like the lounge room (in the floor where is the reception and the only floor where the wifi is accessible and free), the toilets and bathrooms. Obviously, men and women have separate bathrooms, here there was a large bathroom with a bath and jacuzzi and small with just showers. Gender schedules for each bathroom are distributed at the time of check-in but they are also available in each capsule. The hotel also provides pajamas , towels and slippers (it is mandatory to access to the stages).
Regarding the capsules, they are stacked on two levels and next to each other. Like that they can fill several corridors with capsules. The hotel has double-caps, then they are really large. It's spacious, it's like a double bed except that it is covered above. Each capsule consists of a mattress that covers the entire bottom, pillows, blankets and bed linen. The capsule is equiped with a TV, a radio, a clock with alarm, a lamp which intensity is adjustable and a curtain in the entry of the capsule to keep some privacy when we are inside. All the space is well arranged enough to not feel cramped and at the same time have all the necessary equipments. There are even electrical outlets to recharge your phone or your computer and an Ethernet jack. Everything is aim to make you feel confortable seeing the structure and equipment. That's what we thought when we see of our little nest on arrival.
To tell you my night, it was not as peaceful, quiet and intimate than I had thought. In fact , with the arrangement of the capsules and the material used, it is very badly soundproofed. You hear everything from the neighbors. And neighbors, you have 2 or 3, one above for sure and one on your right and/or left. In addition, the curtain will not soundproof the capsule from light and noise from outside. In the end, I fell asleep with great difficulty at 1am (when light from the outside corridor was extinguished) and woken at 5am by alarms of neighbors (adjoining and distant), but also all sorts of little nuisance as footsteps of people passing in front of our capsule, sniffles of sick neighbors,...
Overall, it was a difficult night. We often think of claustrophobic when we think of capsule hotel. We are afraid of being contained and there is not enough space. Instead, the space is well organized and made to not feel that sense of suffocation. Which not comes to mind is the constant intrusion of the outside environment in this corner of intimacy :(
So the question remains : Do I recommend you to test the capsule hotel? The answer is YES! Make the experience by yourself because Japan is the only place where this concept exists! If you can, do it with someone(it's more fun) and book a double capsule as in the Tokyo Kiba Hotel. But do not stay too long because it is still expensive.
TipsBetter advice I can give you is to be prepared, equip yourself of ear ball and an eye mask. It will save you from a few discomforts that have kept me awake a part of the night and the next morning :)!