Japan Photo Guide

Sleeping in Japan can quite often be an expensive thing and unlike the USA where hotels charge per room, in Japan it is often a price per person. I am going to run through a couple different options that are decent, cheaper alternatives to regular hotels in Japan. See other places to stay.

Love Hotels are quite interesting and unique to Japan. Basically, love hotels are for couples to spend a few hours alone together as walls in Japanese homes are (sometimes literally) paper thin. Love hotels tend to have larger rooms than regular hotels, with nicer (and larger) bathrooms, plasma tvs, karaoke, video games, and access to dvds (adult and regular movies). Rooms can have various types of themes and some have various “amenities” such as massage chairs, slot machines, saunas or even a small indoor pool. Some hotels have different themes per room and other hotels have a theme for the entire hotel. There are two options, rest (2-3 hours) or starting from around 10pm you can stay (9-12 hours). Prices and times vary depending on the place, time of day, and if it is a weekend/holiday. A typical love hotel will cost about 3000-5000 yen for a rest and 7000-over 10000 yen for a stay. Often you choose your room by pressing a button next to a picture and then pay a person behind a opaque counter (privacy is important here). Apparently they will not let more than two people in a room nor do most let same sex couples in (sometimes).

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Akihabara, aka Akiba aka “Electric Town,” is the electronic district of Tokyo. If you are looking for some new camera gear, video games, video camera, mp3 player, media player or whatever gadget you are looking for, you can find it in Akihabara. You can find duty free shopping (don’t forget you passport if you plan to buy duty free) and while you use to be able to find really good deals here but they are starting to become harder to find. If you look around, you can still find some good deals but I highly recommend going to a few different places before you buy something.

Akihabara is also undergoing some changes. While it use to be just “Electric Town,” it has morphed into that and also a place associated with manga (Japanese Comics), cosplay (shot for costume play) and maid cafes (cafes where you are served by a girl wearing a french maid outfit).

One store I need to specifically recommend is Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, you can see the entrance to the store on the right. Yodobashi Camera is a chain for electronic stores all over Japan and this is the largest. This place has 7 floors of electronic goodness from everything to cell phones, cameras, video games, heated toilet seats, washers, fridges, massage chairs and pretty much anything else you can think of. For those of you Americans out there, picture a Bust Buy store and then give that store 7 floors. This place is huge and if you are into electronics is a must see!

For more information about Akihabara see the officail Akihabara home page or the Japan-Guide.com.