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Bookstore-styled Tokyo hostel has 1,700 books to read, bunks in the shelves to sleep next to them

Casey Baseel Oct 27, 2015
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Last summer, we heard about what sounded like the perfect place for lovers of travel and literature: a hotel in Tokyo designed like a bookstore and filled with reading material. It might sound like a fictitious flight of fancy, but Book and Bed Tokyo is very much real, and with its grand opening just days away, not only have pictures have surfaced of the unique accommodations, we now know how much it will cost to stay there and a little more about what kind of books it will have.

Book and Bed Tokyo is set to be a stylish, cultured alternative to ordinary hostels or capsule hotels. Located on the seventh floor of a high-rise in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood, the Book and Bed’s communal central area looks, at first glance, like a trendy bookshop, with bookshelves lining one end of the room and sofas with comfy cushions the other.

But those ladders aren’t just to help readers grab tomes from the top shelves, but also to help guests crawl into the 12 single-occupant “Book Shelf” sleeping compartments.

Two sizes of compartment are available. The Compact measures 205 x 85 centimeters (80.7 x 33.5 inches), and the roomier Standard is 205 x 129 centimeters.

The property also has 18 Bunk sleeping spaces, which are a bit closer to what you’d find in a typical Japanese capsule hotel.

Book and Bed Tokyo is hoping to attract not only domestic travelers, but also visitors from overseas. To that end, you’ll find both Japanese and English-language reading material among the 1,700 books on the shelves at the time of opening, which will include travel guides for Japan. By the way, while you can read any of the books you like, they’re not actually for sale.

The company hopes to eventually expand its library to 3,000 books, and just in case your speed reading skills are so developed you think you’ll burn through them all during your stay, there’s free Wi-Fi too.

▼ The front/cloak room reception desk

The hostel also has shower and bathroom facilities, although we’re not sure we’d want to use them right after reading a horror novel.

Rates run from about 3,800 to 6,000 yen (US$32 to $50). That may not make Book and Bed the absolute cheapest place to spend the night in Tokyo, but given its great location (just a few blocks from Ikebukuro Station), you’re not likely to find a much more attractive mix of convenience, affordability, and style in Japan’s capital.

Book and Bed opens November 5, and reservations can be made online here.

Hotel information
Book and Bed Tokyo
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Nishi Ikebukuro 1-17-7, Rumieru Building 7th floor
東京都豊島区西池袋1-17-7 ルミエールビル7階
Website

Source: IT Media
images: Book and Bed Tokyo