Modern Hotel With No Modernization

For the guest who has everything, a luxury hotel in Kyoto is offering special rooms without telephones, televisions, radios or clocks.

The Miyako Hotel has removed the appliances from four rooms so guests can enjoy quiet during their visit to the ancient capital.

Even newspapers won’t be delivered to the rooms.

“We noticed that more than half our guests don’t look at the newspapers we put under their doors,” said hotel official Tamio Watanabe.

The rooms, priced at $290 to $355 a night, do have furniture, refrigerators and buttons to press for room service.

The rooms, which become available Oct. 10, are a sign that the Japanese are changing the way they take vacations, Watanabe said.

“In the past, people visiting Kyoto would hurry around all day, going from temple to temple, and only use the hotel for sleeping,” he said. “But now, people want to relax.”