Quirky Guide

Downtown Osaka. 3am. You’ve drunk too much sake, spent nearly all your money and missed the last train. What do you do? Sleep in a 8ft x 3ft x 3ft fibre-glass pod.

The Asahiplaza Capsule Hotel is one of very few capsule hotels in Japan that welcomes travellers, male or female, and not just Japanese businessmen. Each of the 441 capsules, stacked two high, has its own TV, radio, alarm clock and air conditioning. Costing less than the price of a short taxi ride, you’ll also get complementary pyjamas, a wash kit and free use of the communal baths and sauna. And you can check in any time of the night.

They even sell fresh pairs of pants for the next morning.

Osaka is the birthplace of the capsule hotel concept; the first one appeared here in 1979.