lifestyle

New Tokyo hotel lets you sleep in a bookstore

3 Comments
By Jessica, RocketNews24

Bookstores are really relaxing places, particularly since many Japanese ones have responded to the rise of digital publishing by merging with cafes and creating inviting places to hang out and peruse the goods. With the quiet babble of background noise and a squishy chair to sink into, you may find your eyelids drooping over the new Murakami. However, a comfy chair is not a bed and the stores are generally not open 24 hours, so if you give in to sleep, you’ll probably find yourself turfed out at closing time with a crick in your neck.

If this has been a problem for you in the past, you’ll want to reserve a spot at Book and Bed, a new hotel in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood that invites bibliophiles to sleep in the stacks.

Set to open this September, Book and Bed is a cooperation between designers Suppose Design Office, bookstore-cum-publisher Shibuya Publishing Booksellers, and real estate boutique R-Store.

According to the website, the hotel was conceived around the concept that dozing off while doing something you love is an amazing “in the moment” experience. And if what you love is perusing aisles of books, they want to provide a space with appropriate bedding where you can do just that.

Suppose Design Office’s bookshelves are built complete with bunks you can crawl into, capsule hotel-style. And like a capsule hotel, these are not exactly private rooms, but I suppose if you are dreaming of dozing off in a bookstore, you are OK with that communality.

Presumably there will also be shared showers and changing rooms and places to store your luggage.

As a book lover myself, I can certainly see the appeal of this hotel, but I’m not sure how different it is from some of the nicer internet cafes, where at least you can get a private space to sleep in, so I guess the price point and atmosphere will be key.

The hotel says they are targeting overseas and out-of-town travelers as their main customer base, which I suppose would make a change from sharing the space with the usual crowd of drunken Tokyoites who missed the last train home. Even among your favorite books, it’s hard to sleep surrounded by that thunderous snoring.

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Check out these luxury restrooms – you’ll want to visit Shibuya Hikarie just to use the ladies’ room -- The coolest figure collection you’ll see today: Space maids -- Kinoko Girly: the weirdest time-waster you’ll play all day

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


3 Comments
Login to comment

The hotel says they are targeting overseas and out-of-town travelers as their main customer base

If this is the case, if would be helpful if their website offered info in some languages other than just Japanese for their overseas guests. Anyway, looks like a unique idea.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Yardley, thanks for checking out the website. I figured, that naturally, the books would be in English and other languages so I was looking forward to reading and dozing among sci-fi and mystery books. If they did have foreign language books and are targeting overseas / out-of-town travelers, it would make sense to have a website in English and other languages.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And like a capsule hotel, these are not exactly private rooms...

...but I’m not sure how different it is from some of the nicer internet cafes, where at least you can get a private space to sleep in.

Wait. I didn't get it. Internet Cafe offers you a room with an open roof and not really a wall, more like a partition on both sides, Capsule Hotel offers you a really small room, but at least it is somewhat walled. Thinking solely about privacy, the second one wins hands down...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites