Originally Posted by jpatokal
if I'm reading that right it's not a capsule hotel, but a regular rental-based capsule apartment?
Correct - and AFAIK you cannot go inside. I've been as far as the lobby, which is a tatty old space with mail boxes and cork boards.
Originally Posted by jpatokal
the rooms are actually much larger than the now-standard coffin-type capsules.
Yes - with a Stanley Kubrick Space Odyssey theme going on there... but I imagine that the original interiors must be long gone in most units...
Originally Posted by jpatokal
The first of capsule hotel, AFAIK, is Capsule Inn Osaka in Namba, which opened in 1977 and is still the same price -- Y1600. I've stayed there once and hey, for that price, you can't complain!
Cool. I'll be sure to check it out next time I visit Osaka .... not.
Was 1600yen such a bargain in '77?
(*Seriously - thanks for the information).