JAPAN ACCOMMODATION STYLES
Japan Accommodation
Styles: - Hotels, Ryokan, Love Hotels, Capsule Hotels, Shukubo, Kokuminshukusha
and Youth Hostels. Japanese Style Accommodation.
In addition to the
usual youth hostels and business hotels, you can find several kinds of
uniquely Japanese accommodation: ryokan, minshuku, kokuminshukusha, shukubō,
capsule hotels and love hotels.
When reserving any Japanese accommodations, bear in mind that many smaller
operations may hesitate to accept foreigners, fearing language difficulties
or other cultural misunderstandings. This is to some extent
institutionalized: large travel agency databases note which (few) hotels are
prepared to handle foreigners, and they may tell you that all lodgings are
booked if only these are full! Instead of calling up in English, you may
find it better to get a Japanese acquaintance or local tourist office to
make the booking for you.
Business hotels or
international/Western style hotels, usually around „10,000 per night, have
convenient location (often near major train stations). Luxury hotels, on the
other hand, turn pampering into an art form, but room charges tend to start
at „20,000. For detail information and online booking in English see our Japan
Hotel guide.
 Ryokan (旅館) are
traditional Japanese inns, and a visit to one is the highlight of many a
trip to Japan. See detailed article on Ryokan.
Japan Accommodation -
Kokuminshukusha
Kokuminshukusha
(国民宿舎), a mouthful that translates quite literally into "People's Lodges",
are government-run guest houses. They primarily provide subsidized holidays
for government employees in remote scenic spots, but are usually happy to
accept paying guests. Both facilities and prices are usually more comparable
to ryokan than minshuku standards; however, they are almost invariably large
in size and can be rather impersonal.
Japan Accommodation -
Shukubo
Shukubō (宿坊) are
lodgings for pilgrims, usually (but not always) located within a Buddhist
temple or Shinto shrine. Again, the experience is broadly similar to a
ryokan, but the food will be vegetarian and you may be offered a chance to
participate in the temple's activities. Shukubo can be reluctant to accept
foreign guests, but one place where this won't be a problem is the major
Buddhist center of Mt. Koya near Osaka.
Japan Accommodation -
Capsule Hotels
Capsule hotels are the
ultimate in space-efficient sleeping: for a nominal fee (often under „2000),
the guest rents himself a capsule, sized about 2x1x1 meters and stacked in
two rows inside a hall containing tens if not hundreds of capsules. Capsule
hotels are invariably segregated by gender and only a few cater to women.
On entry to a capsule hotel, take off your shoes, place them in a locker and
put on a pair of slippers. You will often have to surrender your locker key
at check-in to insure that you do not slip out without paying! On checking
in you will be give a second locker for placing your belongings, as there is
no space for them in the capsule and little security as most capsules have
simply a curtain, not a door.
Many if not most capsule hotels are attached to a spa of varying degrees of
luxury and/or dubiosity, often so that entry to the spa costs (say) „2000
but the capsule is only an additional „1000. Other, cheaper capsule hotels
will require feeding in 100-yen coins even to get the shower to work. This
being Japan, there are always vending machines on hand to dispense
toothpaste, underwear and such sundries.
Once you retire into your capsule, you will usually find a simple control
panel for operating the lights, the alarm clock and the inevitable built-in
TV. Sweet dreams! But don't oversleep or you may be hit with another day's
charge.
In Tokyo's Shinjuku and Shibuya districts the capsule hotels run at least
„3500, but have excellent free massage chairs, saunas, public baths,
disposable razors and shampoo, magazines, and coffee in the morning. Despite
all that, keep in mind that your capsule "door" is just a curtain that keeps
light out. You will likely hear a steady stream of drunk and sleepy business
men crawling into their capsules above and across from you before falling
into a mild snore.
Love hotel is a bit of
a euphemism, the more accurate term would be love making hotel. They can be found in
and near red light districts, but most are not in those areas. Many of them
are often clustered around highway interchanges or main train stations out
of the city and back to the suburbs. Basically you can rent a room by the
night (listed as "Stay" on the rate card), the hour ("Rest"), or off hours
("No Time Service") which are usually weekday afternoons.
Japan Youth hostels
Youth hostels (ユースホステル
yūsu hosteru, often just called yūsu or abbreviated "YH") can be
comparatively expensive in Japan, especially if you opt for dinner and
breakfast and are not a HI member, in which case the price for a single
night may be over „5000. As elsewhere, some are concrete cellblocks run like
reform schools, while others are wonderful cottages in scenic spots. There
are even a number of temples that run hostels as a sideline. Do some
groundwork before choosing where to go, the
Japan Youth Hostel
page is a good place to start. Many have curfews.
Japan Camping
Camping is the
cheapest way to get a night's sleep in Japan. There is an extensive network
of camping grounds throughout the country, although naturally most are away
from the big cities and information in English is sparse. Transportation to
them can also be problematic, as few buses may go there. Most charge only
nominal fees („200-500).
Camping wild is illegal in most of Japan, although you can always try to ask
for permission or simply pitch your tent late and leave early. Many larger
city parks may in fact have large numbers of blue tarp tents with homeless
in them.
Japan Accommodation -
Nojuku
For the real budget
traveller wanting to get by on the cheap in Japan is the option of nojuku
(野宿). This is Japanese for "sleeping outside", and although it may seem
quite strange to westerners, a lot of young Japanese do this when they
travel. Thanks to a low crime rate and relatively stable climate, nojuku is
a genuinely viable option if you're travelling in a group or feel confident
doing it on your own. Common nojuku places include train stations, michi no
eki (road service stations), or basically anywhere that has some kind of
shelter and public toilets nearby.
Those worrying about shower facilities will be delighted to know that Japan
is blessed with cheap public facilities pretty much everywhere - notably
onsen, or hot springs. Even if you can't find an
onsen, sento (public
baths), or sauna are also an option.
Bear in mind nojuku is only really viable in the summer months, although in
the northern island of Hokkaido even in summer the temperature may dip
during the night. On the other hand, there's much more scope for nojuku on
Okinawa (although public facilities on the smaller islands are lacking).
Nojuku is not really recommended for first-time travellers to Japan, but for
those with some experience, it can be a great way to get into the 'onsen'
culture, meet other fellow nojuku travellers, and most of all travel very
cheaply when coupled with hitchhiking.
(Article
based on
Wikitravel article
by Based on work by Brian Kurkoski, Mitch Sako, Paul N. Richter, Rene
Malenfant, Evan Prodromou, Ryan, Jose Ramos, Namgay Dorji, David Zentgraf,
Bujdosó Attila, Niels, Richard Petersen, Craig Fryer, Sat.K, Ted O'Neill and
Yann Forget and Wikitravel user(s) Nightingale, Jpatokal, WindHorse, Maj,
Sekicho, Ravikiran r, Littleblackpistol, Cjensen, PierreAbbat, MMKK,
Historian, Nzpcmad, KagakuyaSan, Mark, Bijee, InterLangBot, Chris j wood,
Nils, Joi, MykReeve, Huttite, Dhum Dhum, Ā?, Luke, Karen Johnson and
CIAWorldFactbook2002. Article used under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.) |
