Japan Unveils First Floating Sea Hotel

Imagine what it's like to lie on a bed in a floating capsule and look into the stars while it drifts to a desert island overnight.

That's the experience a major theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture plans to offer by the end of this year. Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-themed park in Sasebo, is developing the new service in which hotel guests sleep in spheric capsules with the top part designed as a bedroom.

Overnight the capsules slowly move to an island featuring attractions. Huis Ten Bosch owns a 39,000 sq-meter uninhibited island some 6 km southwest of the park facing Omura Bay. The operator is building new adventure-type attractions using the entire island, it said.

The operator said it hoped the new service will help draw more tourists from both at

home and abroad, following its launch in 2015 of Henn na Hotel, dubbed a "robot hotel" in which robots provide porter, room cleaning, front desk and other services.

Aside from the recent tourist draws, Huis Ten Bosch uses actual-sized copies of old Dutch buildings to bring the experience of the Netherlands to Japan. Huis Ten Bosch, a subsidiary of major travel agency H.I.S. Co., is also expanding its business to another sector.

Last month, the park operator announced a plan to establish a power generation venture with H.I.S., focusing on renewable energy sources. Staying in the floating capsule, a two-story structure that holds up to four people, will cost ¥30,000 to ¥40,000 per night, Huis Ten Bosch Co. said.

Huis Ten Bosch is a slightly strange Dutch theme park in Sasebo, Japan. It’s mostly run by robots, which is nice.

And now, the theme park fancies introducing magical floating hotel rooms, that let you sleep in the sea and transport you to a new island each night as you snooze. Which sounds like an absolute delight. The theme park spans across a 39,000 square metre uninhabited island, and the makers plan to build new adventure style attractions across the park – so overnight, visitors will be taken to a new adventure to experience.

According to Bloomberg, one adventure will involve Hunger Games style activities with toy guns. Not with actual death and misery, to be clear.

Anyway, the pods themselves are divided into two sections, with the top half serving as the bedroom and the bottom half as the bathroom, and look like pretty cosy little capsules to curl up in. Plus there are large windows, so you won’t feel too claustrophobic while you’re bobbing along in the ocean.