Japan: Capsule Hotel in Osaka

If you are travelling alone or with some close friends in Japan, I would really advise you to sleep one night in a "capsule hotel". The concept is easy: your room is your bed, your bed is a capsule! It's really something unbeleivable when you hear for the first time about this kind of hotels. As a foreigner, it's not easy to understand why or how japanese people can sleep in this kind of place. Actually these hotels are located in downtowns and are more dedicated to late workers who missed their train/bus or young people who had a long party and can't go back home ;) Spending a night in such hotel was however one of my goal when I travelled to Japan. I finally got this opportunity in Osaka for my last night before flying back home !

So, how was this capsule hotel? Firstly, I found it in a little street in Osaka, not far from the famous castle. When I entered the building, I found a friendly old japanese man who seemed to be very surprised to see a foreigner there ^^ I didnt book anything, and it was not needed: many beds were still free! The first thing to do is to take a towel, a "pyjama" and put your shoes and your clothes in a little closet. Finally, you can reach your room (or your capsule!) You will find a long corridor with two ranges of capsules on each side. Every capsule has a number and a light (if the light is on, it means that the capsule is currently used ^^). At the end of the corridor, you will have toilets (japanese ones, of course ^^). Inside the capsule? A bed, an alarm and a TV (with quite special programs... adult ones! Welcome to Japan!). This experience was really insolite! Even if I was alone at that time, I will keep good memory of it! However, one night was enough... this is not a very comfortable place to sleep for one week!

 But Osaka is not only capsules hotel! It's also a beautiful castle! One of the most beautiful in Japan as far as I know! I didn't have the time to visit it, but even walking in front of it and with the view on the city and the park around worths the visit! However, I heard that the castle was quite empty and it was also destroyed during the second worl war... so the interest can be limited.
In front of the castle: a time capsule (yes a capsule again!) which was designed to resist to every cataclysm and keeps information on our times ! It s funny to read that there was an important discussion on which information should be put inside the capsule! Indeed: what would be interesting for archeologists in 1000 years? I found this question quite interesting and unexpected! The capsule will be open every 100 years  and is dedicated to Osaka people in 5,000 years (as I remember)!

Some links? Osaka castle and the capsule hotel I used.