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QUIRKIEST - Top 5 properties that will make your stay ultra cool in Tokyo

So if you fancy being welcomed by a robot, sleeping in an airplane’s first-class suite but never leaving the ground, having a dinosaur check you in and eating a Hello […]

So if you fancy being welcomed by a robot, sleeping in an airplane’s first-class suite but never leaving the ground, having a dinosaur check you in and eating a Hello Kitty breakfast served by room service, then these Tokyo properties are the place to visit.

JAPAN is one destination guaranteed to hand travellers a healthy dose of culture shock with many of the capital city’s hotels charismatically categorised as quirky.

 

5. LODGE IN A LIBRARY

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BNBT Asakusa. Pic supplied by Book and Bed Tokyo

Staying at Book and Bed is bliss for literary lovers with the hostel-like property, described by those in the know as “an accommodation bookshop’’, letting guests camp in capsule-like compartments right beside the shelves.

There are three addresses in Tokyo – Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Asakusa – as well as in Kyoto and Fukuoka and accommodation options include single and double beds, bunks, and even “private’’ rooms shielded by curtains.

 

4. STAY IN A FIRST-CLASS CAPSULE

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Capsule hotels are famously Japanese and while there are ample seedy pay-by-the-hour venues scattered around the suburbs there are also designer digs with First Cabin, boasting eight locations around Tokyo, modelled on the first-class suites offered by airlines.

 

3. ROOMS WITH ROBOTS

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It’s no surprise to learn tech-mad Japan has hotels staffed by robots and while the first Hennna Hotel opened in Nagasaki a few years back there’s now an address in the capital’s Maihama Bay neighbourhood – close to Tokyo Disneyland – with six more opening before 2018 closes.

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Upon arrival dinosaurs manning the reception desk invite guests to register using computerised kiosks, a robotic arm stores bags for those looking to leave luggage with the concierge, and instead of a human bellboy, it’s an automated trolley that hauls cases to the room.

 

2. CAPTURING COOL QUIRK

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Moxy is Marriott’s answer to chic quirkiness – crafted for “a new generation of fun-hunting travellers’’ so think industrial design, the cool crowd camped in the bar, hipster bicycles to rent – with Moxy Tokyo Kinshicho unveiled in one of the city’s gritty eastern neighbourhoods late last year.

 

1. ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

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Hello Kitty is mega in Japan and the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo in hip Shinjuku has captured pop-culture kitsch by creating a collection of rooms worshipping the cartoon cat – there are designs for both the kids and grown-ups – with the chance to order a themed breakfast from room service.

READ: TOTALLY PURRFECT: A Japanese train is getting a Hello Kitty makeover

READ: ADDICTED: 5 reasons why you’ll get hooked on Japan (because we totally did)

What is the most bizarre thing you have seen in Japan?