
Hotel in Tokyo installs flight simulator in room (2019) - mmhsieh
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/07/31/hotel-in-tokyo-installs-flight-simulator-in-room/
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mortenjorck
_> however, guests staying for a night in the twin bed room can’t sit in the
pilot’s seat or “touch the instruments”, according to the hotel. A
“transparent acrylic board” will separate the cockpit from the room._

So it's kind of like a minibar in your room, only instead of dispensing
liquor, it dispenses 737-800 simulator hours.

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benbristow
At least you can drink the liquor ;)

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JoblessWonder
"It was installed to celebrate the hotel’s 15th anniversary."

AKA - The owner really wanted to figure out a way to expense a new flight
simulator.

[Note: I have no clue about tax law in japan... that was mostly a joke because
I don't see how this would ever recoup the cost.]

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pc86
Especially at the seemingly-very-reasonable ~$225 for a 90 minute "lesson."

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hatsunearu
What the hell's the point if you can't book this room and use the sim all day?

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dahdum
It's a hotel, people would immediately use that cockpit for all sorts of
things that are hard to clean and could damage the equipment.

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chrisco255
Yeah. But uh, if that's the case wouldn't this make more sense in a lobby?

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Frost1x
I bet pilots staying overnight in Tokyo after 12-20+ hour flights would love
this room that way they can continue working in the comfort of their own
bedrooms.

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CoolGuySteve
I don't hire any pilots that don't have significant side project flight hours
on their resume.

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aesclepius
Out of curiousity, how many pilots do you regularly hire?

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CoolGuySteve
Our hiring pipeline sifts through many candidates but so far none have been
the 10x pilots our organization requires. We only hire the best.

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im3w1l
Between autopilot and remote control, it's not too much of a stretch imagining
one guy in an office making sure 10 autopiloted planes do what they are
supposed to. Maybe have to make sure none of them take off or land at the same
time.

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hnarn
That would be the Air Traffic Controller.

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im3w1l
I meant a person replacing all the pilots, not assisting them.

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refresher
For the train otaku of HN -
[https://global.trainhostelhokutosei.com/](https://global.trainhostelhokutosei.com/)

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ehnto
That is awesome. I took the Super Hokuto from Hakodate to Sapporo last year,
some of the most incredible scenery of my life.

It is hard not to become a train enthusiast in Japan, especially when armed
with a rail pass. I would essentially wake up in the morning, decide where to
go, within the hour I had tickets and was on a train. Book a cheap hotel on
the train ride, enjoy the new city until I felt like another train ride.
Effortless and perfect for the unplanning wanderer.

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silicon2401
do you know Japanese? how feasible would this be without knowing Japanese? It
sounds awesome

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spike021
Not OP, but for the most part you can get around fine without knowing
Japanese. In two trips across Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Gunma, and Sapporo, the
only transportation there wasn't any English for was a normal bus route in
Sapporo; all other modes of major transportation, even buses in major cities,
have English announcements and visual indicators.

For the bus I mentioned though, I just used Google Maps/GPS on my phone and
guesstimated where to pull the stop request cord, etc.

For communicating with people, Google Translate works decently well. Obviously
knowing Japanese would be ideal, and you should learn a few phrases, but it's
ok to use Google as needed.

Can't speak for super rural areas, though.

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silicon2401
Very encouraging, thanks for sharing.

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evolve2k
But Why?

In high school when I studied Japanese I learnt of these gaming parlours that
had pachinko machines. You’d purchase a bucket of metal ball bearings and pour
them in and they’d fairly randomly get stuck and flow through and may release
other balls that are stuck there. I learnt that when you win you can swap your
winnings for a teddy bear from the prize cabinet.

Only years later did I find out that the real system was you could then take
the teddy across the street and swap it for CASH. The teddy bear was a front
for what was really going only, but in the process everyone saved face.

I suspect a similar thing is happening here.

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woutr_be
That's because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, you buy balls, and win
balls, exchange those balls for tokens. Then across the street, you can
exchange those tokens for prizes / cash, thereby circumventing the law. It has
nothing to do with saving face, it's a loophole to allow for gambling.

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benbristow
You can't use it. A bit pointless then!

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coding123
I think they would literally get more bookings if they just installed wrap-
around screens like that but with Microsoft Flight Simulator /
joystick/keyboard.

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mmmuhd
I concur, when clicking the link I genuinely thought they installed Microsoft
flight simulator, which really made me follow the link.

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whalesalad
Boeing has found their new revenue model.

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room505
Boeing's flight simulator probably crashes.

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olivermarks
I think the idea of hotel rooms with high end simulators for driving, flying
and other stimulants is a fabulous business idea and excellent for places of
low scenic interest, ie you go and stay a weekend racing, drinking, eating and
sleeping in your room.

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fudged71
I remember going to a hotel as a kid where each room had some sort of theme
(tropical, polar, etc. at West Edmonton Mall). It would be really neat if you
could select an experience that has different levels of technology instead.

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schoen
The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo also has this room theming:

[https://www.madonnainn.com/viewrooms](https://www.madonnainn.com/viewrooms)

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gibolt
In the future, AI overlords will determine that it is inefficient to drive
airplanes, and will instead put humans in what they'll call a cockpit.

This room is where they'll be raised, before ready for service.

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notyourwork
Made me think of Enders Game.

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hamsterbooster
2020 works from home version for pilots and flight attendants.

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jakobmartz3
Tokyo always coming up with the coolest things to attract tourists

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mhh__
I still don't really get the appeal of civilian flight sim-ing. I like playing
with the systems in DCS, but ultimately the end game there is to shoot each
other. Usually, I can never sit there flying whereas I will spend hours
lapping in rfactor2 or similar - in large part because if you're in an online
race, you know that you are racing a human that you have to outbrake or
outsmart.

Then again, racing cars is a lot cheaper than owning a plane.

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slg
If you can't get into flight simulators, just wait until you see the train
simulators that are popular in arcades in Japan.

[https://kotaku.com/japan-still-makes-the-best-train-
games-17...](https://kotaku.com/japan-still-makes-the-best-train-
games-1785015249)

