Third Spaces – Capsule Hotels and 9h

Capsule hotels are almost symbolic of urban Japan: minimal to the point of austerity; bizarre to the point of alienation. Anyone who has stayed in one knows the drill; you check in usually on a floor in a multi-story building, before proceeding to your capsule somewhere else among double rows of space-age white coffins. Crawling inside you find a long box with a TV at one end. Washing is done in the communal bathroom (don’t be shy). Needless to say, these establishments are often male-only and favored by salarymen on cheap travel budgets.