When it comes to interesting and odd inventions you can’t beat the Japanese. The Capsule Hotel was first developed in 1979 as cheap accommodation in space starved Osaka and the idea quickly caught on across all of Japan. Check out the video above to get an idea of what a capsule hotel is like, but essentially they are prefabricated fiberglass boxes that are large enough to lay down in. They are piled into a large room with each floor having shared bathroom facilities and possibly some lockers and a vending machine. If you have ever stayed at a backpacker hostel this type of hotel could be considered luxurious with its extra privacy of your own personal capsule. Capsule Hotels are generally located near train stations as their customers are normally drunk Japanese salarymen who have missed the last train home. Very few capsule hotels allow woman to stay and some don’t like foreigners at all, but if your up for a cheap and quirky night’s rest in Japan it would be worth hunting one down.
Posts Tagged ‘Japan’
A train that floats on magnets
The last World Expo was in Nagoya in central Japan and to help get the 20+ million visitors to the site the Linimo Maglev Train was built. This amazing piece of technology offers a fully computerised, safe and smooth ride and is the first Japanese train to use the maglev system. It is hoped the technology will be used in the Shinkasen bullet trains in years to come, a Tokyo to Osaka train is in final stages of development, infact testing is being currently undertaken with speeds in excess of 580kmh. Nagoya’s train however is a suburban train it stops at 9 stops and rides upon a elevated track and reaches speeds of up to 100kph and actually floats 8 mm above the track being held up by magnetic force. The Linimo Train is able to carry 4000 passengers in each direction every hour with each train designed to carry 244 passengers, but as with all Japanese trains many more will squeeze in.
Deadly fish for dinner anyone?
The fugu of blow fish is a poisonous fish a bit like a toady or a puffer fish. These fish are deadly if prepared the wrong way, chefs need to have a licence to serve the fish and tasters need to sign a disclaimer in most restaurants. The gizzards (which are usually the best stuff in Japan) have deadly poison and if contaminated with the meat will kill the eater very fast – the poison paralyses the muscles causing asphyxiation. Due to the nature of the dish it is very expensive and many people die every year after eating contaminated Fugu. It was illegal to serve the fish up until 1958. For anyone interested there is a Fugu museum in Osaka. Fugi restaurant can be found by looking for the giant fugi decoration at the front of the premises. Read the rest of this entry »
Japan’s Asahi Beer
Asahi beer is probably the best known Japanese beer outside Japan, and in Japan they drink it like fish. Its fresh crisp taste is a favourite and it’s not hard to see why. Its available in many forms, there are serial different can sizes including a mini can which holds about 150ml of beer right up to litre cans. Bottles too come in several sizes and of course their is the draft form which is very tasty if you can wait long enough for it to be pored. The Japanese like a big frothy head on the beer and it takes forever. They fill the glass 3/4 full with beer then flick the beer tap backwards to make a perfectly formed high frothy head. While they are spending minutes making this head all you want to do is drink the thing. The suspense make the beer taste really good… believe me! Read the rest of this entry »
