Western-style hotels in Japan are a curious mix of East and West, leaving people feeling like their body has been pulled all the way to the East and back to the West several times.
When you walk into a hotel room, everything seems Western. There's even a Bible in the desk drawer. Then you spy the slippers and the "yukata." The bathroom has a deep, Japanese-style bath.
Anyone who takes Japanese baths knows that a deep soak in hot water is the fastest way to total body relaxation -- and incapacity. After the bath, you sit on the bed in your yukata. The mind would like to go over and get the remote control for the TV, but the body says: "No way. We're staying right here. I'm relaaaxing." You look around the room for something else to do -- something closer.