A Unique Japanese Invention?

capsule rooms at a capsule hotel in Tokyo

I was a receptionist at quite an unconventional hotel in the world’s busiest town. This contemporary hotel had a slick and glassy exterior and appeared in some of the best travel guide books in the world. The hotel’s spa was also well known for its unusual but convenient location and became famous for providing various services to guests.

And I was the only woman to work in this place where half-naked men were wandering around.

The hotel was in the center of Kabukicho. And Kabukicho is in Shinjuku Ward where the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is standing. There were, and still are, a large number of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, massage parlors, and sex clubs around. Kabukicho is also the best-known red-light district in Japan where the Yakuza and prostitutes are roaming the streets at night. And it was only an eight-minute walk from the hotel to Shinjuku Station, where more than 4 million people were, and still are, coming and going every single day.

Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku ward

This unconventional hotel, a 10-story contemporary building with lots of windows, was also the oldest of one of the Japanese hotel chains, and it was categorized in Japan as the ‘Capsule Hotel.’ As the name suggested, we had 630 pod-like guest rooms. Every room was made of modular plastic, and the size of it was approximately 190 by 100 by 90 centimeters. The pods or capsules were piled side-by-side and two units high. And each pile of pods had steps to provide access to the second level like a bunk bed, a two-story bed, for a Children’s room.

A visitor from France once told me how he felt about my workplace as he checked out of the capsule hotel. He spoke to me in English without a strong French accent. He was tall and muscular and clean-shaven.

“Qui. You people are very good at inventing anything compact. Compact cars and compact handheld game machines. I think only Japanese people can come up with this kind of innovation. I had truly a valuable experience. Bien sûr, this Hotel is amazing.”

Each unit had an LCD television with satellite channels, radio, alarm clock, adjustable lighting. And you were able to close the open end of the capsule-like room with a blind for privacy.

A physician from London once told me that the rooms reminded him of the morgue drawers in the hospital, and a young Australian surfer and snowboarder compared those units to the hibernation pods installed in a spaceship you might have seen in some science fiction films.

They certainly looked futuristic then, especially during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Unfortunately, this hotel was closed on Christmas day in Tokyo in 2016.

Ⓒ2021 by Yoko Kajihara All rights reserved.

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