There’s something very special about bedtime and a book. Many a reader among us has probably stayed up into the wee hours being tempted by chapter after chapter of our latest literary love. You can now have the penultimate environ for reading nightcaps at the Book & Bed Hostel in Japan. With locations in Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukuoka, at Book & Bed guests sleep right inside giant bookshelves, in little cubbies equipped with a mattress, a pillow, and a booklight (and some curtains to shield yourself from the outside world). Outside the capsule-like spaces are couches for chilling, a shared bathroom, and over a thousand books and comics decorating the winding shelves (and hanging very casually from the ceiling). Book & Bed is the first to clarify that they’re no luxury stay; what they promote is a one-of-a-kind of experience (kind of like book camping, for those of us kids who were never outdoorsy enough for real camping). And with fares starting at 4,800 yen (about 39 euros, 42 U.S. dollars and 33 G.B. pounds) per night for a standard-sized bed, it’s a tempting one. At the one in Kyoto, you can even get a room overlooking the Kamogawa river. Japan next summer, anyone?
Book and Bed Tokyo
171-0021 Tokyo Prefecture, Toshima-ku Ikebukuro
+81 3-6914-2914
The Inquiring Traveler's Notebook 