Do you love trains? Like really love trains? Like totally would love to sleep with a train set in your room? I know, right? Absolutely. A new hotel in Akihabara offers just that service. Presumably the trains are sanitized after each guest leaves.
The densha otaku (train spotter) is a powerful consumer in Japan. Railway companies take a lot of trouble to create mascots and whole industries of merchandise, and there are countless goods for sale in station shops around the country.
But this is one step further. The Washington Hotel in Akihabara has created a “railway room” to attract densha otaku guests.
Now at the risk of sounding culturally insensitve, having a model train set in your room at a hotel suggests two things: that Japanese apartments are too small to hold model train sets and that densha otaku probably fetishize these things in ways mere mortals cannot understand. The place costs $265 a night, the bed is smaller than the train set, and it’s booked solid for a month.