When I was looking for hotels to stay for my last night in Japan, I casually told my fiancé that I found a place that looks good. He later told me: “when you mentioned that the place lets you borrow books and bring it up to the hotel room, I knew you were going to book it.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Apart from the very catchy name, Lamp Light Books is a great book-themed hotel in the Daimyo district of Fukuoka. It’s really a hotel with a book cafe on the first floor, but the book-ish touches are everywhere, including the Do Not Disturb signs, which indicate whether you are currently reading or not (I think I actually need that for myself).

The room also comes with two books, which I thought was a nice touch. They even include a suggested itinerary that schedules time to read in your room, something I can completely get behind.

Did I try their “Book to Go” service? Of course I did! It can be a bit hard to browse when the cafe is full (I felt like I was disturbing the people sitting next to the shelves) but the cafe empties out at night, making it a good time to hunt for books. The cafe mainly stocks travel-themed and mystery books, and if I didn’t understand the system wrongly, travel books are arranged by category, while the mystery books are arranged by author name. Given that the hotel is located in Japan, all the books are in Japanese and I took it as a good opportunity to explore books that I would not have normally read. I borrowed two books – a manga about a crow in Kyoto who loves food, and another about the history of tea. But because you can borrow the books, I found some to be a bit worn; a good sign that they are popular but that didn’t really make me want to buy the book at full price!

In terms of amenities, Lamp Light Books has pretty much everything needed. I keep saying this like it’s unusual, but now I think I was just shocked by the difference in amenities provided in Japan and Morocco. Even when I was in Japan, I didn’t stay at hotels regularly so I didn’t have a good idea of what’s normal. Here, it seems quite normal to have not only shampoo, conditioner, and body soap, but also pyjamas, combs, etc! It really makes the stay a lot simpler because I don’t need to dig through my bag for many things.

Would I stay here again? It’s a clear yes! The hotel isn’t the most convenient to get to (it’s about 8 minutes away from the subway by foot) but it is comfortable and I love all the books.