Sleeping in the Stacks

 

All photos courtesy of the Book and Bed Tokyo Press Toolkit.

When I worked in a college library, I had to periodically go around and wake people from where they had fallen asleep in the book stacks, on tables, or in quiet corners. I didn’t wake them to be cruel but because the library had to close sometime, and they couldn’t spend the night even if they did have an important paper due the next day.

A hotel in Japan has figured out a way to bring people back to those halcyon days of sleeping on textbooks. In both Tokyo and Kyoto, patrons can stay at Book and Bed where they can dream in beds surrounded by bookcases and curl up with a book late into the night.  And they can do all of that without an exhausted library staff member asking them to move. (Though I imagine the lack of librarians may take away from the experience somewhat. 😉 ).

Though Book and Bed certainly isn’t as fancy (or expensive) as the Library Hotel in New York, it looks like a fun place to visit. I have family in Japan, and the next time I go to see them I may have to pop in this place and explore it. I’ll report back if I do!