Photo= Guest rooms in "THE PRIME POD KYOTO," which adheres to Japanese-style interiors (Sanjo-dori Kawaramachi Higashi-iru, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto)

Unique capsule hotels have been opening one after the other in Kyoto City. Services and designs that overturn the conventional image of capsule hotels have been introduced. For example, some stock substantial collections of comic books and magazines, while others provide Japanese-style rooms. They are attempting to attract foreign tourists and female solo travelers through their achievement of both lower prices and comfort.

RUNSYSTEM Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based company that manages multipurpose cafes named "Space Create Jiyu-Kukan," joined the capsule hotel industry in late February, and opened the first "Comic & Capsule Hotel Comicap" in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto. Sixty rooms have been prepared on the remodeled fourth floor of a building where a manga café was located. There are 30,000 comic books and magazines available for all-you-can-read service. The hotel charge starts at 3,980 yen per night. The hotel said, "We would like young, manga-devotee women to stay."

Cross Hotels, a Tokyo-based capsule hotel management company, also opened "THE PRIME POD KYOTO" in Nakagyo Ward, in mid-February, which is the second hotel of the same brand following one in Ginza, Tokyo. It has a total of 150 rooms, many of which are private pods equipped with a TV. The hotel is decorated with a taste of Japan, using wooden boards for the interiors and Japanese-lantern-style room number plates. The hotel charge starts at 3,000 yen per night. Expected guests are foreign solo travelers and young Japanese women.

FIRST CABIN Inc., a Tokyo-based company that manages capsule hotels with fair-sized rooms across Japan, is also opening its second hotel in Kyoto in March, 2018. It is located in the "Hannari Hokkori Square," a commercial facility of Randen-Arashiyama Station, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto. Most of its 100 rooms are planned to be exclusively for women, so that even women traveling alone can stay easily.

Nine hours Kyoto, which opened in 2009 in Shimogyo Ward, and has 125 rooms, emphasizes the comfort of sleeping and showers, and is particular about things such as the quality of the beds and shampoo. The hotel maintains a high average occupancy rate at approximately 80 percent. Reportedly, many foreign guests visit the hotel, saying, "I want to try it once."

As the number of repeat individual travelers and tourists who spend money on food and experiential activities has been increasing in Kyoto, capsule hotels are expected to become more widespread as a new style of accommodation in Kyoto.