Mark Schreiber was the first foreign writer in Japan to cover the wildly popular phenomenon of capsule hotels.
The American-born author, journalist, translator and longtime Japan resident spent a night back in 1980 at the first of Japan's such hotels — The Capsule Inn in Osaka. Finding his stay at the in-and-out convenience spot, "very uncomfortable" with his 189-cm bulk crammed into the tiny compartment-style room/sleeping space, Schreiber concluded: "It fits the bill — for short-statured males on a tight travel budget."
Luckily, the experience was worthwhile. The international media jumped on his original story, which was first published in 1981 in the Tokyo Weekender. It was then picked up by Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal did its own feature quoting Schreiber.