48 Hours Living in Tokyo's Best Capsule Hotels (and surviving off vending machines)

We are going to be spending the next 48 hours living out of the best capsule hotels in Tokyo and eating out of only vending machines.

Why are we doing this?

But this is more than just a weird Internet challenge. This is a story about redemption. Back in 2016, we came here on our first stop in our round the world journey, and I tried to book us a night in a nice capsule hotel. You know, for the experience. Kara is going to kill me. But at some point, things got confused and the capsule hotel I thought we were staying in was not the capsule hotel that we ended up in. What would you say if I told you this was not the capsule hotel that I found on TripAdvisor and that you put the wrong one into Google Maps and now we're at a super shady capsule hotel? Let's just say it wasn't the experience that we were hoping for. So over the next two nights, we are going to divide and conquer as we try the four best capsule hotels in this city, including this futuristic and slightly creepy one that tracks your sleep. This one that's located inside of a bookstore.

My worst nightmare literally came true.

And last but not least, a capsule hotel that blurs the line between capsule and five star star hotel. This is amazing. And because Japan has enough vending machines that if you stack them side by side, they would stretch all the way from Japan to Hawaii, we are going to challenge ourselves to eat out of only vending machines for 24 hours. This is awesome.

We have just stored our big bags at the train station and now we are about to go our separate ways to find our first capsule hotels.

Goodbye.

Love you. Good luck. Bye.

Honestly. Honestly, the thing I'm most nervous about right now is navigating Tokyo alone.

I think this might be healthy for our relationship. I'm always the one that navigates, and Kara's recently been giving me a hard time for a few wrong turns that I've taken. And maybe if she has to do this on her own, she'll cut me some slack next time I mess up.

Okay, I think I need to go this way. So far, so good.

Woohoo. So it might seem kind of weird that we're splitting up, but most cats capsule hotels are separated by gender, so we wouldn't be sleeping together anyway. And we thought this seemed like a fun way to experience the most capsule hotels in a short amount of time.

Just by myself in Tokyo. No big deal. I think I turn this way. I don't know.

Alright.

According to my phone, I am here. Oh, I'm here. I made it. It's so pretty.

Look.

Those are the capsules. I'm so excited. This is already way better than the last time.

That looks like it to me. All right, so this building right behind me is where I'm going to be staying tonight. It's called 9 hours, even though check ins at 2, checkouts at 10, so it's more like 20 hours. But anyway, 9 hours is a chain of futuristic and fancy looking capsule hotels that are located all around Tokyo. So I booked this at two different locations. I'm staying at the Odomachi location and Kara's a few miles away at the Akasaka location. So let's go check this place out and see if we can redeem our first capsule hotel experience here in Tokyo.

Whoa.

Have to be quiet.

Whoa. This is awesome. And here's my bed.

This is pretty sweet.

Feel so loud.

How do I get it to stay? Oh, I see. Huh. Privacy, kind of. There's no walk, so I have to.

Whisper because someone else is sleeping right over there. It's about 10 million degrees in here.

Wow. It doesn't really look like much on the outside, but there is one feature in this capsule that is so cool and I'm so excited about it. I'll start with the basics.

Overall, it's super basic, but it feels very clean, which is great.

The mattress is.

Not soft. I'd say it's about this thick and kind of feels like a kitchen sponge. On both sides of the bed, there are these rounded shelves. On the back wall we have. I'm so used to saying we. On the back wall, I have a usb, a regular outlet, and this knob does the lights. Ooh, boo.

This button says air, but it doesn't do anything.

The pillow was actually specially designed for this cups hotel. It is shaped like a bean, which is actually really ironic because in our very first capsule hotel, I said, my pillow.

It'S made of beads. It's like a bean bag.

Kind of bored without Kara already.

And finally, without a doubt, the coolest part about this place is that this capsule is going to measure my quality of sleep tonight. This mattress has built in motion sensors so it'll track how much I move around while I sleep. There's an infrared camera that's literally recording my sleep. I don't really know why they need to see it. I'll just be sure not to sleep naked tonight. I'm pretty sure this records sound, and after I check out, it'll send me a full report on my sleep.

Most of the rooms here just have a Little curtain that you pull down over your entrance. But I paid $10 extra for the new door that they've installed and it doesn't stay shut. Okay, well, I'm not sure if it's supposed to shut all the way, but it doesn't. So the idea is that it's a real door with thick padding, so it keeps your entire room more quiet and makes it easier to sleep. Oh, does they shut?

All right, let's go check out the bathroom.

It looks so crazy from out here. Six stories of pods. And there are 20 pods on each floor. So 120 capsules are in this place. Also, I'm on floor five. And from here I'm not allowed to go up anymore because it's women only. From there up. Woo.

Didn't slide as much as I thought it would. So this is like the shared bathroom area. There are like a gazillion sinks, hair dryers, and an entire hallway of showers with really nice soap. Brandon, I'm impressed. I also got a little goodie bag when I checked in. It came with slippers to wear throughout the complex, two towels, a toothbrush and toothpaste and PJs. These kind of remind me of like basketball warm up pants high school kids wear. Oh, he's a big vlogger.

Oh, buddy. Not really where I expected to meet anyone while I was trying to be as quiet as I could. But when we checked in, we got these little paper key cards. I'm guessing I just, yeah, scan it there and that opens up my locker. Basically, when you rent a capsule, you also get access to this locker room. There's also showers and toilets, of course, because we're in Japan, there's a bidet.

If you haven't been converted to a bidet user yet, you are missing out. You don't even know what you're missing out on. I love when they have a privacy button. Nobody can hear me.

So tomorrow we are going to spend 24 hours eating out of only vending machines. So tonight, I've planned one last meal for us.

I just stored all my stuff in a little locker that comes with my capsule and I'm going to meet Nate for a little dinner date. This is so fun. I'm running a tad bit late. What else is new? Nate should be used to that.

It feels so weird going to meet Kara for a date. Like normally we're just always together. It's kind of fun.

Wow, this is crazy. This is the most people I've seen all week. Oh, man, I just missed it. That's where everybody was running.

So Kara just texted me and said she's going to be eight minutes late. I knew she was going to be late. Honestly, I'm surprised she's within eight minutes.

I think I'm on the right track.

I'd like to just say a quick thank you to the beautiful people of Japan for all standing on one side of the escalator so that people in a hurry can walk up the right side. It's much appreciated.

So tonight we're meeting at a place called Team Lab. I think the best way to describe it is it's like an interactive art gallery. It's also where everybody comes to get their Instagram photos when they're in Tokyo. But what you might not know is it's supposed to be home to one of the best plant based ramens in all of Tokyo. And I think it's kind of a secret. Turns out it's not really a secret. They have a gigantic sign, but it should be delicious. Look at you getting yourself around Tokyo.

Yay. You are looking at Miss Independent. It's a big deal.

So proud of you thing. Let's go eat.

Let's eat.

Wow. Why are you so loud?

Because I'm hungry. Oh, this is gonna be awesome.

So are you paying to me? How does this work when you go on a date?

I mean, we're switching everything up. I got you, boo. Oh, my gosh. What is this place?

Are we the only ones here? What is happening right now?

There are these lights coming out of this box and I think it's reflecting in the entire room. Oh, and the music is so nice. Arigato. Thank you. My dinner came with its own lamp. This is crazy. Cheers to date night. We got the spicy miso ramen broth, and then they have a perfectly grilled onion on top. Look at these thick noodles.

It's memorable and it's delicious. I'm so happy.

Oh, my gosh.

Could this day get any better?

The one day I spend away from Nate, could this day get any better?

It's just fun and different. It's redemption.

The noodles are kind of weird. They're like fettuccine noodles. But the broth is incredible. Feels like we are walking into another world. We also had to take our shoes off along with everyone else, which is kind of weird. Whoa. What?

Epic.

This is crazy.

It smells like the YMCA kiddie pool. Oh, wow. It's like a giant beanbag.

This would be the ultimate nap room. Can you imagine?

Just like, what a weird place. Whoever designed the lighting in this room I don't like.

Whoa. That is trippy.

I don't know where to go.

Whoa. Look down. Whoa.

Oh my gosh. I could be in here forever.

It looks like you're sitting on nothing. Wow. Whoa, dude.

Wow. There are fish.

We're just wading in knee deep water right now. I thought it was running away from me at first.

It's like being in the ball pit at McDonald's but for adults. Are we spinning?

There's just people laying everywhere.

I honestly can't tell if the room is spinning. I don't think it is. I think it's just because of the way it is.

This is an aspen. You can tell that it's an aspen tree because of the way it is.

Back to my hotel, I go all alone again. I should really do things a little more often. It's very empowering. Made it well.

The three quarter length sleeves were an interesting choice, but PJs are pretty comfy.

Time for bed.

I'm not even exaggerating. It's at least 85 degrees in here.

Pretty cozy. Kind of weird knowing that camera is on me right now though.

Just. Just trapping all the heat in place.

Shut.

I don't have high hopes for my sleep tonight, but we'll do our best.

I feel like it should feel weird going to sleep without Kara, but it's not like she'd be in here with me anyway.

No way. You will never guess what I just got out of this vending machine. It's AG1 by Athletic Greens and they just happen to be the sponsor of today's video. This is a joke. It didn't actually come out of the vending machine. If you've been watching our videos for a while, then you know that Nate and I start every day with AG1 because just one scoop is packed with 75 vitamins, minerals, and whole food source ingredients, which is extra important on days like these when all we're doing is eating and drinking out of vending machines. I love having the peace of mind that my body is getting the nutrients that it needs. Plus, since we live out of our suitcases, we don't have to worry about carrying around our multivitamin or any other supplement because it's all in here. I travel with as many, many of these travel packs as possible in my bag. I'm constantly sharing them with our friends and family because I truly believe in this stuff and absolutely love it. If you can't tell and if you click the link in the description below, you can get the AG1 immunity bundle which comes with five of these travel packs for free and a year supply of these immune supporting vitamin D3K2 drops which we also take every day. So if you haven't already, use our link and give it a try. Okay, back to the video.

People are loud.

Morning. Not the best night of sleep.

It's.

I will say I have had better nights of sleep. It wouldn't have been so hot. It would have been fine. I even had to go stand outside to cool off. Oh, this breeze feels so good. It did eventually cool down. I need some coffee.

Goodbye, home number one. Well, that was fun. I'm very interested to see how today goes. All I know is I need another coffee.

I am literally getting coffee out of a vending machine outside of a coffee shop. Okay, 24 hours of eating out of only vending machines begins now. Oh, I think I bought one with milk in it.

Bananas. We found it.

Hey, I'm lost. I passed it. Okay. Did I want to come back? Where did I come from?

We said we'd meet at 10.

Always late. I'm pretty sure in a Q and A I answered once. I think for me, if I had to choose the thing that annoyed me most about Cara, it would be that she is late a lot. But if she's just late for me, it's fine. I just hate it when we're inconveniencing other people.

I have no idea where I'm going. Do you see a vending machine with bananas?

No.

Neither do I. I found you.

Okay, so Tokyo has a crazy amount of vending machines, and they're in the most random places. Most of the vending machines just have drinks inside of them, but if you know where to look, you can find food. So for the next 24 hours, we are going to attempt to survive with eating nothing except for food and drink that we find in vending machines. Kara's questioning why we're not eating ramen and sushi. You know, because it's fun.

Because.

But I've done some research, and I think we should be able to find everything from French fries to ramen to canned cake to insects. It should be pretty fun. But we're starting simple with the banana vending machine behind me. Whoa. It doesn't even drop it far. Thank you.

Honestly, I'm absolutely starving.

Same.

I almost cheated already. Great breakfast. And there's even a trash can. Somehow this one of the cleanest cities in the world, but you can never find a trash can.

Whoa. Do we think this counts as a vending machine? I Mean, really? All a vending machine is is a robot that drops your food. This one just pushes a few buttons and hands you your coffee.

This is awesome.

Picked up my cup. No way.

I think he's trying to up some sell you on some food.

Oh, my gosh.

I just got coffee from a robot.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Thanks again, Tom.

I think he knows his name.

All the hustling paid off. You got some new customers. This building is five floors of vending machines and arcade games. Should we try to win one of these?

Yeah, these are fun. I love it here. All right, here we go. What do you think is going to happen when I hit it? Oh, I think I just have this little 3, 2.

That is not what I thought was going to happen. I thought this little thing was going to stick out. Go, go, go. No. This one's a ripoff. Never coming back here again. Oh, my gosh. Here it is.

We have found it. No way.

There's chocolate strawberry.

Okay, this is the vending machine. I think I'm most excited about Cake in a Can. Almost a thousand yen.

Dang it. I just wasted 200 on the stupid juice.

Whoa. This is so cute. The top of it literally looks like a soda can. There's a sticker with today's date on it, so hopefully that means it was made today.

What? That's a fresh strawberry.

Yum.

And fabulous.

Right?

Wow. So right here, within 10ft of each other, you can get ice cream out of a vending machine, Cotton candy and cake in a can. What a world we live in. Loser has to eat out of the bug. Vending machine.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah. Come on.

Oh, it's shaking him. Oh, my God, this is hard. Keep going.

Stop. Nate, you cannot do that.

No.

No way.

Good.

So mad at you, dude. What are you already done that so many times.

Oh, my gosh. That's so much.

I'm not doing it. So I lost. But we're gonna have a rematch on the ice hockey table, which is where I thrive.

She did actually have one of these at her house growing up, so I am a bit nervous.

You're going down. You're eating bug.

Not me.

I told you.

Okay, from here, we are heading across town to a cluster of vending machines that should have some more substantial food, which is good, because I am still starving. Feels good having somebody to point the camera at. Again.

Feels good not to be holding the camera again. I really take you for granted. Aw.

Okay, so we've come to a children's park because this place was supposed to have French Fries, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, rice balls, octopus balls, chicken nuggets. But instead I see drinks. Drinks, drinks, drinks, drinks. Cup of noodles might be our only food option.

Hello.

I don't think it works.

This area here was supposed to provide our one substantial meal of the day, and now there's no food.

Why are we doing this?

Ramen soup. Umami. That takes a little effort. That's how this translates. We were about to give up. I was actually getting pretty excited. We were just gonna go to a normal restaurant for lunch, but we have found vending machine corn and ramen. I've mixed emotions about it.

I think we buy all three ramen. Corn clams.

I'm sorry. I can't eat clam clams out of a vending machine. I'm drawing the line.

Hot corn. Now I just gotta get the ramen. Oh, that looks nice. All right. And clams.

Ew.

That's a questionable choice right there. I think you got the good ones. Yep. Okay, so we've got clam soup, ramen stuff, and a little effort corn. I'm gonna start with the clams in case they're really bad.

Let's start with the corn.

Oh, it looks very thin. Cheers. I guess.

Tastes like I'm drinking the ocean. Ew.

This tastes like corn soup with actual little real corn kernels in it.

Here.

I don't want it.

It's not as bad as you think.

But I don't want it.

Ew.

Ramen time.

That's very animal y tasting. I feel like this has been a fun reason to go around different parts of Tokyo that we wouldn't do otherwise, but more in Japan.

Does feel long to waste a meal in Tokyo.

Let's go get some real food. Just one bowl of noodles.

Okay. Let's go.

Woo. And I beat you at ice hockey.

Okay, so I'll be the first one to admit this is a bit of a stretch because you don't actually get your food out of a vending machine. You just get tickets out of a vending machine and you pay and then you turn them in and you get your food. Oh, no.

Got my own tap.

I got.

I love you. See you later. Bye. Off we go again. Ms. Independent is back out on the town in Tokyo. But I don't know which way I'm going. Not this way.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

There's a family mart right here that I am going the right way. Oh, there's nothing.

I have found the jackpot. Rice triangles in a vending machine. I would like one of those. I Like to pay.

It's even more convenient than going to 7:11. Kara is going to be so jealous.

Here's my new home. It's called Booking Bed.

My capsule for tonight is somewhere up there.

Oh, my gosh. This capsule hotel is so cute.

Okay, so this is home sweet home.

Wow.

Oh, this is like a mansion compared to the place I slept last night.

It is so different than last night's. First of all, the lobby is a coffee shop that anybody can go to. I had to kill a little time while I was waiting to check in. Have me a little coffee, and then if you're a guest, you have special access to their private library. You may be wondering why that sounds so exciting. And it's because the entire common area and all of the capsules are the library. I'm literally sleeping on a bookshelf right now. I am the bookshelf.

In addition to another amenity kit, I also got an old iPhone. Ah, light controls. Nice. Quite the upgrade. It really is pretty simple. It's a box with a bed in it. And then underneath the bed, this is where you store your bag.

Before I explore the library some more, let me show you around my new home for the night. It is not a round, peaceful cocoon. It is a hard, square wooden box.

A little concerned about this bed. It's basically a like 3 inch foam mattress. Not foam, like memory foam foam. Like packing foam. While I'm already acting spoiled, my room came with some clean linens, which is great. I assume that everybody uses this quilt on top, and it's probably not washed, so, yeah, that's a little strange, but it'll be fine. One shelf and a safe. I'm gonna be honest. I have never once in my life used a safe at a hotel. Makes me a little nervous. I always feel like my stuff is gonna get locked in there. There is once again, a shared bathroom with toilets and showers. Now let's go to the library.

No way. So you use the super old iPhone to lay your bed flat? What?

This is amazing. Kind of reminds me of being on an airplane, except this is way bigger than any bed that I've ever had on an airplane. I feel a little guilty. I definitely got the best of the capsules.

Capsule books. It's one of the least private accommodations I've ever seen, but if you can get past that, it's amazing. I can't find any books in English. I did find a disco ball.

Yes. Found the little lighting book in English.

Wow. The bathroom is super nice. All right, so let's see what we've got inside this amenity kit. Slippers. I will say the nine hour slippers felt a little fancier. Some kind of cotton thing. Toothbrush. Small towel. Big towel. Oh no. PJs. This is what the shower rooms look like. We've got some washing machines. And then these are the toilets. And with the touch of a button, it opens. Yeah, this place is super fancy. I'm not sure that it counts as a capsule hotel. It feels a little more like a hostel. But it's very nice.

I am so lost. No idea where to go. Nevermind. Figured it out.

Hello again. I think I found something that you're gonna be really excited about. And it did come from a vending machine.

Yeah.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

Shut your eyes. Hold your hands out.

Oh no. Brahma vending machine. And I've waited two hours to eat this with you.

I know. I'm excited too.

Thank you. This is all you could ever want.

Oh, and I picked the sealure one. Yeah, it was all in Japanese.

This is my favorite Japanese too.

Okay, so this is just a little snack to get us to the next vending machine. Get to Goi bugs.

This is going to be my most awkward vending machine purchase of the day. It's right with the between two people's table where they're eating. Excuse me. Sorry. No, I'm just gonna buy some bugs.

You think that one? Oh, the scorpion. I don't have enough money for the scorpion.

Oh no. Sorry. Why is it heavy? So heavy. You want to try it with me? You don't? You want to try one Japanese koroi? Do you want to try? No.

No.

Okay.

Yeah. You want to try?

She's trying.

Yeah. Okay. We'll do it together. We'll do it together.

Thank you. Okay, the three of us. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

It doesn't taste bad. It's just a weird texture. Oh, it's like barbecue. Barbecue good. No, no, one's enough.

Nice meeting you. Thank you.

I got though they're thanking you for.

Bye.

I do feel a tough tiny bit left out now. What is it?

It's a cricket. It's really not bad. They've probably been in there for two years.

Okay. I was gonna do it. I was gonna do it. Oh, okay.

Nah, I'm so proud of you.

Honestly, I was feeling a little soft after I didn't have clam soup today. I just wanted to make sure I could still do it.

I will. Yeah, one. One is enough. Are you YouTuber?

Yeah. The bug vending machine got us two new subscribers.

Yeah. Thank you. Nice meeting you.

Thanks, guys.

So cute and aw. Thank you.

I am in love with M. It was worth eating cricket to become friends with those people.

What a night.

They were so cute.

I think the last time that we tried bugs, we made friends.

I think you're right.

That was pre pandemic. Yeah. That was a different world.

Oh, sweet home.

My worst nightmare literally came true. When I got back from dinner, I tried to open the safe to get my camera out and there was an error code. Thankfully, I went to the front desk. This really sweet girl came to my rescue, and she had a key and just opened it, but I don't think I'll ever do it again. Also, I just realized that this capsule hotel is not really separated by boys and girls. It's just one big room of beds and books, books and beds. The bathroom isn't really separated either. Like, the boys are supposed to be on one side and the girls on the other, but I definitely just brush my teeth next to a random dude, so.

All right.

Good night.

I am about to get an amazing night of sleep in this huge comfy bed with this beautiful ac.

Good night.

I slept so good last night. People are a lot more quiet in the library. That was amazing.

I'm going to get a free coffee.

It's pretty.

I miss you.

I miss you, too.

How'd you sleep?

Like the best I've ever slept.

Same.

I just missed your coffee delivery this morning.

All right, let's go see if we get our stuff out of these lockers. Please still be in the locker for.

Some reason, and I'm really nervous.

Hey, it's still there.

Thank goodness.

Good work.

Well, it's been a fun two days. Even though this was a bit of a cheesy challenge, it was actually a really fun way to see Tokyo. It forced us to go to a bunch of places that we would have never visited otherwise, and we've gotten over 40,000 steps in in the last two days. And most importantly, we got our bags back. Before you go, I wanted to let you know what I am most excited about this week, and that is that we have launched a private Facebook group just for readers of the newsletter over at the Daily Drop. It's called the Daily Drop lounge. You know, like an airport lounge, except there's no food and drinks. But what it does have is a community of really cool travelers and miles and points enthusiasts who you can connect with. And to celebrate the launch of this Facebook group, we are going to be doing a Facebook live with our community manager, Megan. We where we teach miles and points 101. This is going to be on March 21st. So if you've ever seen any of our videos where we fly first class for hundreds of dollars instead of paying tens of thousands of dollars using miles and points and you've wanted to learn how you can do that, this is your chance. This is going to be an incredible place to start. We'll leave a link where you can join the Facebook group in the description and hopefully we'll see you on the 21st. Also, there will be a QR code somewhere here. I don't know why I'm leaning back here.

We even got bidets for our families for Christmas because we want to use.

Them when we're home. I feel like we've entered some kind of social experiment. Just a mirror corner and everyone's sitting. Kara's officially a follower.

Okay, what about both?

Oh, you just lost a dollar.

Oops, sorry. It's hard being your sugar mama. I feel like this has been a fun reason.

I don't really want cotton candy, but look how much this guy's enjoying it.

Look how romantic.