High-Quality Sleep Enhances Efficiency at Work and Quality of LifeFor Nap Room, Dormitory

The proper amount of high-quality sleep is critical for leading a healthy life. Not only does sleep affect health, but it’s also directly linked to improving the quality of work and daily life. That’s why a comfortable environment for sleep in places like nap rooms for workplaces, dormitories, boarding houses, and lodging for technical interns must block light and sound from the surroundings, and create a comfortable environment for good sleep. Kotobuki Sleep Capsule are used in a wide variety of facilities across Japan, for staff naps in 24 hour operations such as fire stations, police departments, hospitals, railroads, and shipping companies, and for boarding houses for driving schools. They help to provide a high-quality environment for naps and sleep. By creating an environment which provides comfort like that of a private room in a small space, extra space is also created within the facilities as a whole.

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Nap room at Sendai City Hospital

You can sleep well in a capsule bed!

Capsule beds can create a quiet sleeping environment because sound absorbing materials in the mattress, bed pad, and interior panels absorb sounds like snoring or movement from the other compartments. Either light-blocking curtains or rolling blinds at the entrance to the bed prevent the light of the room from reaching the far end of the bed. At the same time, they provide privacy from the surroundings as well, and help to create an environment similar to a private room. This helps to protect the privacy of sleepers as they take a nap or go to bed for the night.

Reducing Space to Better Use Available Room

Capsule beds can provide a comfortable, private room-style sleeping environment in the same amount of space taken by a single bed, which means they can help conserve space. By installing capsule beds, the space which is saved can be used to create a shared lounge or community space, or to place a cafeteria. Capsule beds don’t just provide high-quality sleep, they also help to create environments with the amount of extra space which is necessary for working and living as a group.

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Prefabricated Style for Installation in Existing Rooms

Capsule beds can be installed in both existing and newly constructed facilities, as long as the floors meet necessary weight-baring requirements. If there’s an entry way large enough for people to enter, the panels and columns of the capsule beds can be carried in and assembled on site. Because such facilities are different from hotels and guest houses which receive money from guests, there are no laws regarding the installation of capsule beds, which means they can be installed in the same way a bunkbed would be placed at home *This only applies within Japan

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Nap room at Shinagawa Station on the Keihin Kyuko Railway

Creating Big Merits for a Small Cost

Capsule beds may cost more than ordinary bunk beds for home use, but their sound and light blocking qualities, and the feeling of having the personal space of a private room create a high-quality sleep environment beyond what a bunk-bed can provide. By providing a satisfying sleep environment for workers or students in dormitories or boarding houses, the quality of work and life for these people is improved, and the positive effects will far outweigh the initial installation costs.

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One Room Becomes Two, With Capsule Beds Instead of Partitions

Capsule beds can be placed in the center of a room to split the room in two. Using the ‘Side Entry - Layout : Individual’ capsules, the entrances to the top and bottom capsules can be placed pointing in two different directions, with the room on the right having access to the upper capsule, and the room on the left having access to the lower capsule.

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Two Levels of Bed Make Efficient Use of Space for Many Beds in a Shared Room

Having two levels of capsules can be very useful in shared rooms used as nap rooms or in boarding houses. In the same amount of room necessary to spread out one futon, two single sized beds can be placed. There are electrical outlets inside the capsules as well, allowing users to charge phones and other devices without worrying about the others around them.

 

Using Space Efficiently Can Allow for an Increase in the Number of Rooms, or Additional Shared Spaces

For spaces like dormitories for students and workers, and in boarding houses, where the room is the main living space, it’s ideal for each individual to have their own private room. However, creating individual rooms within a limited footprint can create a number of challenges with the cost, number of rooms, and the footprint of the rooms. Using the ‘Side Entry - Layout : Individual’ capsules, the number of rooms can be increased, without making the rooms too small. Lounges and other shared spaces can also be created. This helps to build an even more comfortable living space for the occupants.

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Solving Sleep Disruption in 24/7 Staff Nap Rooms

Are you struggling to provide quality naps in 24/7 shift-work environments? In emergency response centers, fire departments, hospitals, and transport hubs, traditional bunk beds often expose staff taking a nap to light and noise from changing shifts. When space and budget constraints make permanent private rooms impractical, Kotobuki Sleep Capsules offer an ideal furniture-based solution. Featuring sound-absorbing interior panels and light-blocking blinds, each capsule creates a quiet, private-room environment within your existing space—without major construction.

Embracing Capsule Beds for a Better Workplace: A Fire Station's Approach to Rest and Wellbeing

Testimonial

We were really able to provide enough space for each individual to relax comfortably
Used at a bus company

  • What lead to the install of the capsule beds?
    Our existing offices were going to be rebuilt, and with the new building meant to consolidate the business we decided to build a new nap room as well. Once the office is built it will be used for many decades. That's why we decided to install the best facilities currently available. Our company believes strongly in working to improve the working environment for our drivers, which is why we are also working to improve the facilities for them as well.
  • What was the deciding factor in installing the product?
    The most important factor we considered was that because the nap room was the most important space when it came to improving the working environment for our bus drivers, we really wanted to provide a private space where each individual could relax. Our previous nap room was divided by partitions to separate the beds, but occupants could hear the voices of the people around them, and the sounds of things moving around. However, with the capsule beds, they can pull down the screen at the entrance and have a space almost like a private room, where light and sound don’t bother them. The capsule beds were also really appealing because of how efficiently they would use the available space. Because there are two tiers of the beds stacked together, we can fit twice as many beds as we normally could.
  • How do you feel about the beds now that you’ve installed them?
    To be honest when I first heard about the capsule beds, I hadn’t even thought of using capsule beds for the nap room. The other members and I only really thought of them in old-school capsule hotels. I was surprised to see them in real life because they were different from what I’d imagined. I realized they were spacious enough to work, and the refined and relaxing design fit really well with our goal to create a relaxing private space. A lot of the people who have used them say that they help them to relax. Unlike the beds with partitions that we used to use, I think that the capsule beds are better for sleeping stress free because they’re highly effective at blocking light and sound, and because the inside environment can be controlled with ventilation. I think another reason they’re so popular is because they’re similar environments to private rooms, which means that even if you aren’t going to sleep they’re a good place to lie down and rest, to have a bit of your own space, in a way where each person can have a bit of space to themselves to use as they like.
Interview : March, 2019

A place where you can definitely sleep, undisturbed by outside sounds.
Used at a hospital

  • What lead to the install of the capsule beds?
    There were not enough nap rooms. Each of them was small, and there was only one room for every two to three wards, which meant that if a nurse wanted to use a nearby room, there wasn’t even enough room to spread out their own futon. If they were lucky enough to find an open space to sleep, they would be sleeping in a ward they didn’t know, alongside strangers, which meant that there were those who couldn’t relax and wouldn’t sleep there, and those who stopped napping because they would always wake up at the sound of others coming into the room.
  • What was the deciding factor in installing the product??
    The hospital layout may appear big, but when you consider the layout for the necessary facilities and functions, there’s only a limited amount of space left which would work. There was discussion of using bunk beds as we considered how to use the space efficiently, but improving workplace amenities was a higher priority, so we decided to use capsule beds. For hospitals with on call or night shifts, the fact of having a place to sleep comfortably is very important even when recruiting new workers, and providing an environment where people will want to keep working for a long time is an important part of creating retention.
  • How do you feel about the beds now that you’ve installed them?
    To be honest, we were worried whether the space would feel to claustrophobic. But when you sleep in one, you have your own personal space, which brings a sense of safety, a comfort almost like sleeping in your own home, which was surprising. A lot of people told us “I didn’t think they would be this comfortable to sleep in.” If you sleep with your head on the far side from the door, you hardly notice the movement of people coming in and out of the nap room. With the old system, you would inevitably be woken up by the sound of people opening and folding futons, and putting them back into the closet. Now you can be assured of a good rest, without being disturbed by the sounds of people moving. The capsule beds also have electrical outlets, and being able to charge a smartphone without disturbing other people is also nice. Each bed has its own outlet, which is very convenient.
Interview : September, 2015

Projects

Delivery to Nap and Watch Duty Facilities
Industry Number of locations Industry Number of locations
1 Medical and welfare
(hospitals, etc.)		 75 7 Media
(newspapers/television, etc.)		 76
2 Railroad transportation
(JR/Private railways)		 346 8 Public agencies
(police stations, fire stations, Japan Coast Guard, the Minister of Defense, and others)		 266
3 Automobile transportation
(tracks/taxies, etc.)		 188 9 Finance / insurance 16
4 Air transportation
(airports, etc.)		 51 10 Lodging
(hotel employees, etc.)		 248
5 Electricity, gas, heat supply, water utility 53 11 General companies / others 342
6 Telecommunications 27 Total 1,688

As of Feb 2026

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