The capsule hotel — Big on value, short on space.

Stay in one of Tokyo’s iconic capsule hotels, because who wouldn’t want to spend the night in a 2' x 2' x an optimistic 7' tube. The Capsule Value Kanda lives up to its name admirably, offering a… room? Within ten minutes of Tokyo central station for 3000 yen or about £18. Perhaps as a result of this, it was occupied almost uniquely by 20 something business men in town for the night wearing identical black suits and was very much not designed for backpackers! One look at the fairly pathetic lockers told me that I was going to have my already pathetic amount of space further compromised by a fairly large backpack. In addition to the very cramped conditions, my inability to read Japanese left me unable to operate the temperature control, meaning that I could add “stiflingly hot” to my list of discomforts.

I’ve often heard the capsules compared to coffins but I found them to be rather more comparable to the sliding drawers in which they store the dead bodies in a morgue…

Similarly to said drawers, you must slide into your capsule in a most undignified manner, leaving yourself surrounded by your fellow corpses on a budget. In my case, one gentleman had an alarmingly violent cough whilst several more woke at ungodly hours to noisily make their way to a meeting.

Bathing facilities are very much communal and, upon entering the washing room and seeing all of the showers occupied, I submerged myself in a delightfully hot shared bath. This proved to be a considerable mistake — in Japanese culture one must ALWAYS shower before entering the bath. To do otherwise is seemingly a heinous crime and resulted in a number of nude Japanese men shouting angrily at me. Whilst I didn’t understand a word, I gathered easily enough that they were trying to convey anger and so I fled the bathroom, unwashed and moderately ashamed at my ignorance.