Next time you visit Japan, do not be surprised or shocked to be offered a bunk, cabin or pod as your ‘room’ in a hotel. The weak yen is forcing Japan’s hoteliers to be creative about providing innovative accommodation due to the increasing number of tourists and rising hotel prices.
Tourism in Japan, especially, staying at a hotel has got costlier. A double room, a tiny one in fact, will cost you a straight 30,000 yen ($240) for one night in central Tokyo.
However, if you walk down to a place just ten minutes away from Tokyo’s famous Akihabara shopping district, there is a hotel that has been converted from an office building. After the conversion, the hotel, launched in April, offers a room for about 3,300 - 5,000 yen a person. A bunk bed in a shared room is your cheapest option. It will also fetch you a towel, slippers and a locker with a key.
A whopping 13 million foreigners visited Japan last year.
(With inputs from Reuters)