Capsule Hotels

Nine Hours takes its name from the arithmetic it proposes: one hour to wash, seven to sleep, one to get ready and leave. Everything in the building is arranged around that sequence, and nothing much is offered outside it.

The capsules are moulded white units stacked two high along quiet corridors, each with a controlled lighting system that dims towards sleep and brightens towards waking. Luggage, clothing and washing happen on separate floors, so the sleeping level stays silent.

Design is unusually consistent for the price — signage, towels, slippers and amenities were all drawn by the same hand. Floors are separated by gender and reception runs through the night.

Less a capsule hotel in the old commuter sense and more a hybrid of pod hotel and co-working floor. Each unit is a wide berth with a powered bed that tilts up into a sofa, a projector aimed at the wall opposite, and a curtain rather than a door.

A large shared lounge with desks, power and a long kitchen counter runs alongside, and guests tend to spend the evening there rather than in the pods. Shibuya's crossing is a few minutes away on foot.

Checking in is largely self-service, and the crowd skews towards people working while travelling.

Built inside an airport terminal and borrowing its vocabulary from aircraft cabins, First Cabin offers compartments rather than capsules — high-ceilinged rooms of roughly four or five square metres, closed with a shutter and a curtain instead of a wall.

The larger First Class grade fits a proper bed, hanging space and a low table; the Business Class grade trims the floor area. Large communal bathhouses sit at the end of each wing.

Its appeal is almost entirely logistical: a bed on the airport side of the journey, for guests with a dawn flight or a delayed arrival.

Anshin Oyado sits at the comfortable end of the capsule market and makes a point of it. Capsules are slightly oversized, fitted with better mattresses than the category norm, and laid out to reduce the noise that travels between neighbours.

The building's real draw is on the upper floors: a full bathhouse with hot and cold pools, a sauna, and a lounge where soft drinks, coffee and late-night noodles are included in the room rate.

It is a men-only property, which is worth knowing before booking. Shinjuku Station is a short walk, and the reception desk handles luggage during the day.