Sauna Hokuō — Hotel in Tokyo

If you've never thought of this, try a capsule hotel while in Tokyo! I was trying to find a safe, clean place to sleep in Tokyo without breaking my budget, and found this $41 capsule hotel perfect. I'll let you do a little research on what they are, but this one was really nice. Clean, quiet, polite guests. Very nice spa for showering, hot tub soaking. A room inside the hotel for eating a meal or just chilling out in robes. I made the mistake of wearing my shoes inside - big mistake! Oops. Just put your shoes in the lockers behind you as you face the front desk. You can't lock your capsule, but they will check big bags behind the desk. I actually stored mine IN my cubicle with me. The beds are tatami style, which means futon on hard surface. Not cushy mattress, but typically Japanese. They have lights and TVs in the capsules. Not much noise, but I could hear snoring off in the distance. So might be smart to bring ear plugs. This one is Male Only, which I understand is pretty typical. Kinda of tricky to find without GPS, so make sure you have a good plan for getting there from the Ueno station. It's about a minute walk to the Ueno station, with lots of safe nightlife around the place. Highly recommend it...

If you've never thought of this, try a capsule hotel while in Tokyo! I was trying to find a safe, clean place to sleep in Tokyo without breaking my budget, and found this $41 capsule hotel perfect. I'll let you do a little research on what they are, but this one was really nice. Clean, quiet, polite guests. Very nice spa for showering, hot tub soaking. A room inside the hotel for eating a meal or just chilling out in robes. I made the mistake of wearing my shoes inside - big mistake! Oops. Just put your shoes in the lockers behind you as you face the front desk. You can't lock your capsule, but they will check big bags behind the desk. I actually stored mine IN my cubicle with me. The beds are tatami style, which means futon on hard surface. Not cushy mattress, but typically Japanese. They have lights and TVs in the capsules. Not much noise, but I could hear snoring off in the distance. So might be smart to bring ear plugs. This one is Male Only, which I understand is pretty typical. Kinda of tricky to find without GPS, so make sure you have a good plan for getting there from the Ueno station. It's about a minute walk to the Ueno station, with lots of safe nightlife around the place. Highly recommend it...

In the shadow of Ueno station is the 'cube' hotel. First It's men's only hotel. More like a Japanese bath house than a hotel. Knowing the bath house routine I was not surprised. I scheduled a massage with the sauna then stayed in the 'cube' room. I will say after locker rooms and military barracks this was much nicer. Second be prepared as very little English is spoken. The amenities were better than several of the budget and higher hotels in the area. One big note to the youth out there they and most other 'cube' hotels have a very strict NO ink (tattoo) policy. I needed to run out to the Lawson's on the corner and purchase a bandage to...