After a beautiful ride from Shibuya to Odaiba passing by Omotesando, the Imperial palace, Ginza and eventually crossing Rainbow bridge during sunset I arrived to Ariake Tokyo Harbour where the ferry bound for Tokushima and Kitakyushu was getting ready to sail off at 19:30.

Obtaining a ticket is considerably easy if you know basic Japanese. All you need to do is to call the booking center https://kyusho.co.jp/en/ a few days in advance by letting them know your name, plate and phone number. 

It is recommended to get to the port around 1 hour before departure so that you can park your motorbike near the ferry and have enough time to go to the counter, pay and get back to pick up your bike. The cost for one passenger including two nights in the capsule style room plus one 125cc motorcycle is 24,140¥. Once you get your ticket, they will let you park inside the boat and the staff will help you lock your motorbike in case the weather turns bad.

The boat departed at 19:30 sharp. It was stunning to see Tokyo’s most iconic buildings slowly getting smaller as the ferry started to head south towards Yokohama.

The journey from Tokyo to Kitakyushu with one stop in Tokushima (Chikoku) takes about 34 hours and is equipped with everything you need to survive for 2 days: laundry rooms, beer vending machines, a bunch of different kinds of microwaves, a public bath, showers, several TV rooms and of course, a gaming room!

I would like to highlight the unlimited free supply of water, roasted green tea, mayonnaise, soy sauce and wasabi. 

Even though there is no restaurant on board, the food selection is varied and affordable:  yakitori, udon, soba, rice balls, doria, mapo tofu, pasta, fried cutlet sandwiches, bibimpap, cup noodles and mozarella.

Most of the food is frozen and the freezers that contain it are labeled from A to F. In order to heat it up, it’s very important to find the corresponding microwave also labeled from A to F. (A member of the crew called my attention for using a D microwave with food from a B freezer. After apologizing he kindly explained to me how the system worked.)

The capsule beds are comfortable, spacious and extremely clean. They are equipped with a decent mattress, pillows, blankets, sheets, a reading light, a power socket and a hanger.

Once you get tired of being indoors, the deck is the place to be. There is a heliport and a lot of space where you can get a sunbathe or work out if you wish to burn off the malts and hops from the previous night.  Since the boat does not get too far away from the coast, as soon as the sun rises you can observe the beauty of the shoreline of Mie prefecture.

It is a long journey but definitely a unique experience. Those particular only-in-Japan features somehow make you feel as if you were floating across the sea in a small piece of the land of the rising sun.