Bed Down in a Bookshelf

We’re always on the lookout for avant-garde, inventive digs, so when the niche Book and Bed Tokyo crossed our radar, it made quite the impression.

On the seventh-floor of a Tokyo high-rise in the Ikebukuro dining and shopping district, Book and Bed sells itself as an "accommodation bookshop," with a strong emphasis on the books, not the beds. That’s right, their pride and joy isn’t 1,000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets or an extensive pillow menu, but the more than 1,700 hand selected works (in English and Japanese) from Shibuya Publishing & Booksellers that line the hostel’s shelves – there for the guests’ constant perusal.

As for sleeping, they know that’s a necessary evil, so that’s done in 30 bunk-style cubbies – some tucked right into the bookshelf itself. Beds come in standard (50.8 x 80.7 inches) and compact (33.5 x 80.7 inches), but both feature the same basic mattress (think: college twin XL or sleepaway camp cot), no-frills pillow and book light for reading into the wee hours.

While Book and Bed is far from cutting edge design and won’t be cracking any ‘Most Lavish Hostels’ lists anytime soon, what they do – they do well. We bet that book fiends will have no problem cozying up in one of their comfy nooks, getting lost in a good story and dozing off, hardcover still in hand.

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