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As you may or may not know – Japan is not just the land of the rising sun; it is also the land of outlandishly themed hotels. Japan has a fantastic array of accommodation options, ranging from low-budget, space-age capsule hotels to super-high-end traditional ryokan – but it is in the theme hotel department that it really takes the biscuit.
Last month, the Hotel Gracery in Tokyo’s, Kabukicho district, Shinjuku announced that it would be celebrating its opening by unveiling a Godzilla-themed suite, featuring a large Godzilla model (not life-sized, unfortunately), a giant lizard-hand bursting through the wall over your bed, and various other Godzilla-themed memorabilia. Other, less expensive rooms in the hotel will have views of Godzilla walking past the windows, and the building itself will be crowned with a giant Godzilla head.
A night in the Godzilla room will set you back 39,800 yen (£218) on a weeknight or 49,800 yen (£272) on a weekend – but the more modest (yet still awesome) “Godzilla View Rooms” are more affordable, starting at a reasonable 15,000 yen (£82) per night. The hotel opens on the 24th of April – see Kotaku for more details.
Many of Japan’s other themed hotel rooms are based on an anime or manga of some kind. These include the super-cutesy Dokidoki! PreCure (an anime TV show) room in the Ikenotaira Hotel and the Cinnamoroll and Hello Kitty rooms in the Royal Hotel; the Gegege no Kitaro room in the Kaike Saichoraku, kitted out with all sorts of ghosts and ghouls; an Evangelion room in Hakone’s Highland Resort, where you can sleep in a space capsule bed; plus Pokemon rooms, Kumamon rooms, Thomas the Tank Engine, Gaspard & Lisa, Miffy, One Piece, Kamen Rider Wizard, Gundam Wing, Ultraman, Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse… The list goes on and on.
Besides these, there are also themed rooms based around model train sets, chocolate Koala bears, pandas, and Christmas. And these are just the ordinary hotels.
In Japan, there is also such a thing as a “love hotel” – and here things get even wackier. Love hotels are also known as “boutique hotels” or “fashion hotels” in Japan, but they’re not fooling anyone – we know what they’re for. Much, much more awesome than the humble motel, Japanese love hotel rooms can be rented by the hour, and are almost always themed.
Themes include an S&M Hello Kitty room, complete with manacles attached to all four corners of the bed (sorry…); rooms fitted out with merry-go-rounds; subway-car-themed rooms; rooms where you can pretend you’re trapped in a cage; spider-themed rooms; Pirates of the Caribbean rooms; Batman rooms – and even an entire hotel modelled on Jurassic Park (it’s in Beppu).
Love them or hate them – there’s no denying that Japan’s themed hotels are pretty impressive. Personally I think they’re awesome!
The madness doesn’t stop here! Japan is also the capital of weird themed restaurants, which I explored in a previous post.