After illness forced the postponement of my trip to Rome (previously scheduled for late November 2014, and now planned for mid-February 2015), I’m still not sure whether I’m sufficiently recovered for my East Asia trip for which I’m supposed to leave on December 24. I’ll be seeing more doctors between now and then, and will also continue to monitor how I feel physically. I really really really want to go ahead with my trip to Bangkok, Singapore, Siem Reap, and Seoul, and I don’t bail on travel plans lightly; after all, you’re talking to the person who flew to India two days after having a wisdom tooth removed. 🙂 But of course my health comes first, and we’ll see how things develop in the next week and a half.
In the meantime, this week’s featured image comes from my very first visit to Asia: my trip to Japan in April 2008. Certain Japanese cities such as Tokyo are known for having “capsule hotels” — incredibly space-efficient places of accommodation, in which your room is a minuscule pod. (Apparently the concept originated in the 1970s as a type of place for famously workaholic Japanese men to catch emergency accommodations when they missed the last train home. Even today, capsule hotels tend to be restricted largely to a male clientele.) Here’s one such capsule hotel that I visited in Tokyo in ’08; at the time, it was known was the Big Lemon. It was situated in the Kabuchiko section of the Shinjuku neighbourhood.
And here’s a bonus photo from inside the Big Lemon, so you can see just how tiny the “rooms” were:
I didn’t actually lodge in the Big Lemon; I paid one night’s rental charge (which my records indicate ran just over US $40 in 2008) just so I could gain access and take photos. I did also climb inside and lay down for a while, but was unable to nap because a dude who was legitimately lodging there, in a pod across the aisle from me, was coughing. I only lingered for about an hour before I returned to my actual hotel. The woman at the front desk of the Big Lemon was confused about my leaving so soon. She gave me a receipt and instructed me to show it to her upon my return. I tried to explain to her that I wasn’t coming back.
You won’t find a minibar in your room in one of these understated places of lodging. But there are surprising luxury features such as a color TV and a clock/radio (and I understand that in the present day, high-speed internet is common in capsule hotels). All guests of the facility also enjoy complimentary access to a sauna. And while closet space in each berth is limited, lockers are available on-site in the building to store your valuables.
Would you stay in a capsule hotel?
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