Unusual Life

A capsule hotel is a hotel system of extremely dense occupancy in Japan. A guest room is truly just a human “capsule” providing room to sleep and little more, although facilities usually include a television and other electronic entertainment. These capsules are then grouped and stacked, two units high. Luggage is usually stored in a locker away from the capsule. Privacy is maintained by a curtain at the open end of the capsule but noise pollution can be high. Washing facilities are communal and there are often restaurants, or at least vending machines, and other entertainment facilities.

This style of hotel accommodation was developed in Japan and has not gained acceptance outside of the country. The Japanese capsule hotels vary widely in size, some having only fifty or so capsules and others over 700, and are often male only. Clothes and shoes are exchanged for a robe and slippers on entry. The benefit of these hotels is convenience, and price, usually around $25 a night.

The first capsule hotel was the Capsule Inn Osaka, designed by Kurokawa Kisho and located in the Umeda district of Osaka. It opened on February 1, 1979.

Capsule Hotels

Yes, I can use chopsticks

Tokyo on one cliche a day….

Andrew P. Reimer shot this crazy house in Cincinnati, OH, close to Hyde Park. Apparenlty the architect is a professor at the University of Cincinnati. He’s part of a group that focuses on “organic architecture” and his students help to build the house as part of their grade. (Thanks Ellen, for the tip!)

Unusual Homes

The official name is Hang Nga Guesthouse and Gallery, but apparently everyone in Dalat, Viet Nam just call it the Crazy House. The base of the house is an actual tree and it’s quite fanciful and Gaudi-like. Apparently, the architect is a woman whose father used to be president of Viet Nam.

Travel Adventures

Travel Blog

More photos on Flickr

Unusual Homes

Eddie Owens Martin, an outsider artist, died in 1986. His creation, his home, called Pasaquan in located in Buena Vista, Georgia, and is open to the public for tours.

Martin, a self-taught artist and architect who said he was guided by inner voices and by visions that popped up on the screen in the back of his head, laid out the African chieftain’s robe he wanted to be buried in and fired a bullet into his right temple. Martin, who was 77, apparently killed himself when the accumulated pains of growing old grew too great.

Artist’s bizarre home now open to the public.

After his death, his estate and its trove of hundreds of oil paintings and water colors, thousands of pages of drawings and mounds of costumes and ceremonial jewelry were in legal limbo for several years, but are now being saved and are available for viewing.

PBS Interactive Tour

Pasaquan photos and tour hours of operation

Unusual Homes