Right by the station, a place where one-person beds are lined up row after row. That’s a capsule hotel (カプセルホテル).
A place that makes the most of a small space, with a slightly futuristic feel. Many are near major stations in big cities or near airports, and the going rate is 2,000 to 5,000 yen a night (it can go up in busy seasons and at other times. Tokyo’s official tourism site GO TOKYO, updated June 2025). When choosing one, pick a spot in the middle of the area where you want to spend the most time. It’s a place to stay at a reasonable price, right in the middle of town.
Many of a capsule hotel’s rules come from one idea: “the capsule is a place for sleeping.” Your luggage goes in the locker; you relax in the lounge or the bath. Once you understand that it’s a place you use this way, with each thing in its own spot, you’ll know how to stay there.
This article covers six things.
- Inside the capsule — sleep, adjust the light, charge your devices
- Valuables and luggage — lockers and the front desk instead of a lock
- Can you sleep? — You’ll hear some noise, hence the earplugs
- On your own as a woman — women-only locations and women-only floors
- Times and multi-night stays — how you spend the daytime depends on the place
- Something to look forward to — the large shared bath (大浴場), a morning soak, and amenities so you can arrive empty-handed
1 Inside the capsule — sleep, adjust the light, charge your devices
An average capsule is about 1.2 meters wide, 2 meters long and 1 meter high. Some places have them in a single row, and others stack them in two tiers, upper and lower. The entrance is closed off with a door or a curtain.
What’s inside depends on the place.
- Nine Hours (ナインアワーズ) — an outlet, USB charging ports (except at some locations), a switch to adjust the light, a roll-up blind, a mattress, a pillow and a comforter
- First Cabin (ファーストキャビン) — a safety box that locks
- Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya (ナデシコホテル渋谷) — a fan, a reading light and USB charging
There’s no restroom or bath inside the capsule. Usually, the restrooms are at the end of each floor and the shared bath is somewhere in the building, not necessarily on your floor.
It’s an enclosed space, so people with severe claustrophobia may want to avoid it. That said, at many capsule hotels there’s room to move around, and you can get out of the capsule at any time. Nine Hours capsules are shaped like a cocoon, with no corners on the inside.
Inside the capsule, you sleep, adjust the light and charge your devices. You relax outside, in the lounge or the bath. Think of it that way, and the tight space stops bothering you.
2 Valuables and luggage — lockers and the front desk instead of a lock
Here’s how a night might go. When you check in, you leave your luggage and valuables and change into the loungewear provided. You relax in the bath or the lounge, and at the end of the night you get into your capsule and sleep.
Capsule entrances often don’t lock. Each place has its own rules for where your valuables and luggage go.
- Nine Hours — capsules can’t be locked, so both valuables and luggage go in the locker. You don’t take luggage up to the capsule floors
- Anshin Oyado (安心お宿) — larger lockers
- First Cabin — a safety box that locks, in each cabin
- Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya — luggage is kept in the shared space on the floor where you stay
So when you arrive, first take your things to the spot your accommodation sets aside for them. Some places add one more layer of protection. At Anshin Oyado, you enter the floors where you stay with a security key that only guests have, so outsiders can’t come in. At Nine Hours, staff don’t open the lockers of guests staying multiple nights, except in an emergency.
Put everything in the locker, and you’re empty-handed. You can go straight to the bath or the lounge.
Suitcases go to the front desk
A large suitcase may not fit in the locker. Anshin Oyado’s lockers, for example, fit up to a carry-on-size suitcase.
At many locations of the companies covered here, luggage that won’t fit in the locker is kept at the front desk or in a designated area. At Nine Hours, you can also send your luggage ahead. On the shipping label, write the guest’s name (in the Roman alphabet) and the check-in date, and send it so it arrives on your check-in day. There are exceptions, such as airport locations and unstaffed locations.
Big luggage goes to the front desk. You travel light and head out into town.
3 Can you sleep? — You’ll hear some noise, hence the earplugs
You may hear noise from around you. First Cabin itself notes that, because its cabins are divided by curtains, some sound may carry.
Some places have earplugs for exactly that.
- First Cabin — given out free at the front desk to anyone bothered by noise
- Nine Hours — handed out free at the front desk to anyone who asks
- Anshin Oyado — earplugs among the amenities
Some places let you choose a quieter bed. Anshin Oyado offers rooms with a 1.4-meter ceiling on the upper tier only, and promotes them as a place where the sounds around you are less likely to bother you. At its Shinjuku Station South Exit location (新宿駅南口店; men only), these rooms have sound-absorbing material inside.
Keep your own sounds down, too
Curtains and doors aren’t soundproof. That’s why the most important etiquette at a capsule hotel is to be quiet (Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), guidance as of March 2019).
- Use headphones for TV or music
- Be careful with your morning alarm (some capsules wake you with light)
- Avoid strong-smelling food. Many places ban all food inside the capsule
- When taking photos, keep other guests out of the shot. Watch out for the shutter sound, too
The place will often explain the detailed rules when you check in, so if you’re unsure, follow those. First Cabin, for example, as a rule bans photography in the large bath and the vanity area.
Eat in the lounge. Neither Nine Hours nor Anshin Oyado’s Shinjuku Station South Exit location allows eating or drinking inside the capsule. At Nine Hours you can also eat outside the facility, and some of its locations have no lounge.
Get your earplugs, and think of it as a place for sleeping. Do that, and you can stay right by the station at a reasonable price.
4 On your own as a woman — women-only locations and women-only floors
Most capsule hotel guests are men. Some places accept only men. On the other hand, there are also women-only capsule hotels, and even at places where both men and women can stay, men’s floors and women’s floors are usually separate.
- Nine Hours — women-only locations (such as Woman Shinjuku (ウーマン新宿)). Other locations also have women-only areas (except men-only locations)
- First Cabin — the building is divided into men’s areas and women’s areas
- Anshin Oyado — depending on the location, there are men-only locations, women-only locations and locations with separate floors for men and women
- Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya — a hotel for women only
Even within the same company, some locations may be men-only. Before you book, check the location’s name and information for the label “女性専用” (women only) or “男性専用” (men only). Some places also have age limits (for example, children 12 and under can’t stay at First Cabin, and anyone under 18 can’t stay at Anshin Oyado’s Tokyo locations, among others).
Even when two of you travel together, it’s one capsule per person. A man and a woman traveling together will usually be on separate floors at night.
Even on your own as a woman, you can choose from women-only locations or women-only floors.
5 Times and multi-night stays — how you spend the daytime depends on the place
If you spend your days walking around town, there are two things to check about where you’re staying. Will they keep your luggage after check-out? And on days you’re staying another night, can you come back during the day?
- Nine Hours — no luggage storage after check-out. For daytime on multi-night stays, see below
- First Cabin — keeps luggage before and after check-in, only on the day of your stay. On a multi-night stay, you check out only on the last day
- Anshin Oyado — you can come and go 24 hours a day, and you don’t need to check out when you go out. At the Shinjuku Station South Exit location, luggage storage is free until your check-out day
- Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya — on a multi-night stay, you can keep the same room and don’t need to check out
There are exceptions, such as airport locations and unstaffed locations.
At Nine Hours, even on a multi-night stay, the facility is cleaned from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, so you can’t go in and you can’t use your locker (you can use the lounge). You can head out with your luggage left in the locker, and from 3 p.m. you can sleep in the same capsule again.
Walk the town by day, and come back at night to sleep. On days like that, a few hours in the daytime when you can’t get in won’t be a problem.
Times at a glance
If your plans change and it looks like you’ll arrive after midnight (0:00), contact the place ahead of time. At Nine Hours, for example, if you’ll arrive after midnight, you’re supposed to let them know in advance through the inquiry form, and if you don’t, you may be treated as a no-show (with a 100% cancellation fee).
| Check-in | Check-out | |
|---|---|---|
| Nine Hours | 3 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning | By 11 a.m. No extensions |
| Anshin Oyado | Capsules from 3 p.m. (from 12 noon if you book on the official website) | Capsules and lockers by 12 noon |
| Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya | From 4 p.m. | By 10 a.m. |
(Each company’s official website, checked in October 2026. Times differ at Nine Hours’ Narita Airport location)
At Anshin Oyado, even on your check-out day, you can spend time in the lounge and the bath until 3 p.m. if you take your luggage out of the locker and let the front desk know.
In some cities, there’s an accommodation tax. For details, see the article “Paying for Your Stay.”
6 Something to look forward to — the large bath, a morning soak, and amenities so you can arrive empty-handed
Some capsule hotels have a large shared bath. After a full day of walking, you can stretch out your legs in a big bath.
When you get back from walking the town, head to the big bath first. Change into loungewear and take a break in the lounge. Then all that’s left is to get into your capsule and sleep.
- First Cabin — a large bath (some locations don’t have one). Some facilities also have a sauna
- Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya — a large bath designed like one at an onsen ryokan (温泉旅館, a traditional Japanese inn at a hot spring)
- Anshin Oyado — the bath opens early in the morning, so you can enjoy a morning soak too
Nine Hours has showers in private booths.
At Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya, once you go up to your floor, you change into a yukata (浴衣, a light cotton kimono for relaxing in) and unwind. For how to put on a yukata, see the article Shoes Off, Slippers and Yukata.
Amenities so you can arrive empty-handed
Some places provide not just loungewear and towels but personal items as well. Anshin Oyado has loungewear, towels, hair dryers, toner and moisturizing lotion, shampoo, earplugs, razors, toothbrushes, hair irons and more, and promotes the fact that you can stay even if you arrive empty-handed. First Cabin also provides amenities for women, such as face wash, makeup remover, toner, moisturizing lotion and cotton pads, besides loungewear and body towels (it varies by facility).
The less you carry, the lighter you’ll feel walking around town.
If you have tattoos
Some places let you use the facilities even if you have tattoos, as long as you cover them. Anshin Oyado, for example, requires guests with tattoos or body art to wear its designated cover stickers in the facilities. For how to think about it before you get in the bath, see the article The Large Bath and Hot Springs.
On a long trip, laundry too
Whether you can do laundry also depends on the place. First Cabin has coin laundry machines, for a fee. Nine Hours has no laundry. If you’re staying in the middle of a long trip, check before you book, and you can pack fewer clothes.
For now, just this
- When you arrive, put your valuables and luggage where the place says (the locker at Nine Hours or Anshin Oyado, the safe in your cabin at First Cabin). Capsule entrances often don’t lock
- Take luggage that won’t fit in the locker to the front desk. Before you book, check the place’s information to see whether they’ll keep it after check-out
- At First Cabin or Nine Hours, you can get earplugs at the front desk. Use headphones for anything that makes sound, and eat in the lounge
- There are women-only and men-only locations. Check the label before you book
- How you spend the daytime on a multi-night stay depends on the place
Then just leave your luggage and head into town, traveling light.
