Book and Bed — Kyoto, Japan

It may not have room service or Egyptian cotton bed sheets, but one thing Kyoto’s newest design hotel does have, are books.
Following the success of its Tokyo outpost which opened in 2015, this is the second Book and Bed hotel for real estate company R-Store, who chose the central Gion district for its Kyoto location. Dressed by Makoto Tanijiri of Suppose Design Office, on the surface, the hotel has the appearance of a bookshop, with floor-to-ceiling shelves that are packed with over 3,500 tomes curated by local bookstore Keibunsha Ichijoji. However on closer inspection, 20 blue curtains can be pulled aside, to reveal integrated capsule-like rooms, each with their own mattresses, clothes hanger and power socket.
The perfect hideaway for the solo traveller, bookworms can spend the day visiting the city’s sites, before retiring with a novel and a beer from the small neon-lit bar. And for locals who don’t need a bed for the night, the rooms can be rented hourly during the day, for that quick solitary reading fix.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
9F Kamogawa Building
200 Nakanocho-Nishiiru
Higashiyama-ku
Kyoto
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Danielle Demetriou is a British writer and editor who moved from London to Japan in 2007. She writes about design, architecture and culture (for newspapers, magazines and books) and lives in an old machiya townhouse in Kyoto.
Instagram - @danielleinjapan
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