Hotel Atarayo Osaka

The bathrooms and showers were extremely clean, and the staff gave me useful suggestions for places to eat and a sento (public bath house). Some staff could speak Vietnamese too, which helped a lot. I had a private room for my bag and a bit of privacy, though I wish the mattress were thicker. I mentioned that to the staff before, but nothing seems to have changed. The shared area has a kitchen for cooking and a refrigerator, and I liked the spa-like shoe lockers on the first floor for keeping the hostel clean. They also gave me useful slippers that I kept for future stays or a long flight. My stay was short, but I’d come again if they made the mattress thicker or replaced it.

I ended up here for one night because my first hostel was fully booked for the following evening. The showers and dressing rooms were very clean and well kept, and they provide comfortable pajamas. There’s a small eating area on the same floor, which I liked since the main dining space is a bit cramped and you don’t have to go all the way to the first floor. In the morning, all the staff were women, including one who looked like an intern and was super cute, which stuck in my mind. The evening staff were all men, very friendly, and fluent in English. It costs a little more than other Osaka hostels. It wouldn’t be my first pick, but I’d put it second or third.

The capsules are clean and fine for a night or two, nothing fancy, but they do the job. I found the rules and having to keep everything in lockers a bit of a hassle. Also, women being charged nearly €10 more than men for the same stay leaves a bad impression and is hard to justify.

It’s clean, in a good spot in the city, and not far from everything. My main issue was the very thin futon over the hard floor of the capsule room. The dryer also seemed poorly installed, with no outside exhaust, and running on 100v it took two hours to dry my clothes.