Sweet dreams are made on wheels: Japanese firm opens bus hotel in Shizuoka

An old commuter bus and bus information office have been converted into a hotel called Bustay in Nishi-Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture.- YOMIURI SHIMBUN/ ANN

TOKYO: Remember the time you fell asleep in the bus and missed your stop? Now you can sleep comfortably in one without worrying about where you might wake up - in Japan, at least.

Tokai Jidosha, a Japanese transport company, has repurposed a retired bus and ticket office to provide a unique accommodation option in Nishi-Izu city, in Shizuoka Prefecture.

It is called Bustay - a combination of the words “bus” and “stay” - which sounds like the Japanese word for “bus stop”.

It is billed as a rare opportunity to sleep on a bed in a bus, The Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Dec 5, adding that viewed from the outside, it looks like a bus from the 1960s or 1970s.

The bus’s engine has been removed, so guests can only pretend to drive the vehicle. However, they can push the stop button and announce upcoming stops.

The hotel opened its doors on Nov 17 and can accommodate up to five guests per night, English-language daily The Japan Times reported.

Three people can sleep in the bus and two in the ticket office building.

Rates for group stays start from ¥34,000 (S$310), excluding food, the newspaper added.

The hotel includes a kitchen where guests can cook their own meals. With prior reservations, they can also receive fresh seafood and ingredients from nearby food establishments.

The repurposed bus used to operate a route in Shizuoka from 1999 until April 2023. Before it became a hotel, it could carry 52 passengers and a driver.

To remodel it as a space where people could sleep, seats in the rear were replaced with three beds.

Next to the bus is the ticket office which can accommodate two people. It was built in 1950 and operated until March 2022.

The one-storey building measures 72sq m, and has been fitted with a dining room, bathroom and restroom.

Tokai Jidosha had been considering for the last two and a half years a project to convert an unused bus into a lodging facility, Asahi Shimbun said.

The company’s ridership had fallen by 40 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and it forced the operator to review plans to update its vehicles.

Tokai Jidosha expects Bustay to help revitalise Nishi-Izu, where around half of the city’s shrinking population is elderly.

The area around Bustay is home to various tourist destinations, including a beach and an onsen resort. Glass production is also a major industry in the region.

Getting to Bustay would require a bus ride as well, because the nearest train station, Izuhakone Railway’s Shuzenji Station, is about 70 minutes away.

Just try not to miss your stop on that ride. - The Straits Times/ANN