MIMARU (2026): The Apartment Hotels Built for Families — Full Kitchens, Rooms for Up to 10, and the Pokemon Rooms Explained

Guide·August 26, 2026·14 min read·Sourced & cross-checked

Japanese hotels have one structural cruelty for families: rooms built for two. MIMARU is the chain built to fix it — 29 apartment-hotels across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka where every room is a real apartment: 38–100 square meters, a full kitchen, a dining table, and capacity up to 10 guests behind one door. Ten of them hide official Pokemon Rooms. Add a 10%-off membership with a catch worth knowing and an 11:00 checkout, and it's the family answer most guides still haven't caught. From official pages.

Honto check: The concept, sizes and capacity, property counts (including the two 2026 Osaka openings), kitchen equipment list, Pokemon Room locations and specs, check-in/out and late-fee terms, the no-breakfast policy, cleaning cycle, lending items and the membership's exact scope were read from MIMARU's official site on August 20, 2026. 🚨 Deliberately not stated: nightly rates (dynamic — the official best-rate guarantee is the pricing anchor), a "no curfew" claim (not officially published; what is published is that post-22:00 arrivals need advance notice), and "supermarket next door" framing (the official wording is nearby, not adjacent).

TOC

MIMARU at a glance

Item	Official answer (Aug 2026)
What it is	Apartment hotel for medium-to-long stays · every room = living + kitchen + dining · 38–100m² · up to 10 guests
Where	29 properties: Tokyo 15 · Kyoto 7 · Osaka 7 (2 opening Sep–Oct 2026) · avg 3 min from stations
Pokemon Rooms	🚨 10 properties only (Tokyo 5 · Kyoto 4 · Osaka 1) · 38–60m² · 4–6 guests · book as a room category
Times	In 15:00 · out 11:00 · after-22:00 arrival OK with notice · late-out ¥3,000/h
Meals	No breakfast/restaurant — full kitchen instead · rice cooker, toaster, halal cookware lendable
Membership	Free · 10% off Best Rate Plan (that plan only) + 1,000 pts/night · best-rate guarantee · OTA excluded

Inside a standard apartment, kitchen to bunks:

Check availability on Klook →

The apartment logic: why the kitchen changes the whole trip

Compact Japanese apartment kitchen with gas stove and sink, looking through to a tatami living room — A typical Japanese apartment kitchen layout (generic, not MIMARU) — illustrates the cook-your-own-meals logic of apartment hotels. Photo: kalleboo (CC BY 2.0)

What does a family actually do differently at MIMARU?

Eat breakfast at a table, together, in pajamas — which sounds small until you've herded jet-lagged children through a hotel buffet. The official kitchen kit is genuinely complete (induction stove, microwave, fridge, pots, pans, knives, full tableware, soap and sponges included; rice cookers and toasters on request), and the brand's own framing — "dish up takeout food or cook your own meal" — describes the realistic pattern: depachika and supermarket dinners assembled at home, one restaurant outing a day instead of three. The apartment sizes make the other half of the case: 38–100 square meters in cities where 18m² is a normal double, with bunk-bed family layouts, tatami-and-futon rooms, connecting options and suites officially sleeping up to 10. Cleaning follows apartment rhythm (from day three, then every other day) — the space-for-turndown trade that defines the category. Kids' math: 6-and-unders co-sleep free (two per room), cribs free under 2.

The Pokemon Rooms, demystified

When should you book for peak dates?

The moment flights are real. Apartment inventory is structurally scarce — a property might hold 40–100 apartments against a city of ten-thousand hotel rooms — and the family calendar compounds it: spring break, Golden Week, summer holidays and the cherry-blossom fortnight sell the big configurations out months ahead, with the Pokemon Rooms going first of all. Off-peak, weeks-out booking is usually fine; peak, treat it like reserving a popular restaurant, not a hotel.

How do you actually book one?

As a room category, not a request: the official Pokemon Room pages list exactly ten properties — Tokyo's Ikebukuro, Kinshicho, Ueno East, Ginza East and Hatchobori; four Kyoto locations; Osaka's Namba North — each with one or more themed apartments of 38–60m² sleeping 4–6, dressed with a hundred Pokemon, bunk or loft beds, and an official four-item novelty set per stay. Two official caveats before you promise the kids: the specific design can't be chosen, and these rooms sell out furthest ahead of anything else the brand offers — book the moment dates firm up. The obvious pairing is a day at the Pokemon centers and cafes, walkable from several of the themed properties. Families weighing MIMARU against conventional options should read it beside our family hotels guide — the honest comparison is one MIMARU apartment versus two connected hotel rooms, and the apartment usually wins on both price and sanity.

Booking mechanics: the 10% that isn't what it sounds like

MIMARU or MIMARU SUITES — which sub-brand fits?

Standard MIMARU apartments are large open-plan rooms — everyone shares one space, bunks and beds arranged around the living area — which suits families with younger kids and groups that treat togetherness as the point. MIMARU SUITES adds real walls: two or more separate bedrooms per apartment, the configuration three-generation trips and two-couple foursomes actually need for sane evenings. Both share the kitchen-and-table DNA; the SUITES premium buys doors.

Where do people misread the membership?

The free membership's 10% discount applies to the Best Rate Plan only — not across every plan on the site — plus 1,000 points per night (arriving three days after checkout, two-year validity), with OTA bookings excluded from all of it. Layered on top is an official best-rate guarantee: same room, same conditions, cheaper elsewhere — email the screenshot within 24 hours of booking. Practical logistics from the official pages: 15:00 in / 11:00 out (that extra hour matters with children), ¥3,000-per-hour late checkout to 18:00 when rooms allow, free luggage storage 7:00–22:00 on the shoulder days, and after-22:00 arrivals with advance notice. Muslim travelers get an officially unusual perk — halal cooking sets and prayer mats on the lending list. Where MIMARU sits in the bigger picture — against business hotels, capsules and luxury — lives in our where-to-stay hub.

FAQ

What is MIMARU?

An apartment-hotel brand — officially ‘designed for medium-to-long stays’ — where every room is a genuine apartment: living space, dining table, and a full kitchen, in sizes from roughly 38 to 100 square meters. It runs 29 properties across exactly three cities (15 Tokyo, 7 Kyoto, 7 Osaka — two Osaka openings land September–October 2026), all a few minutes’ walk from major stations. Two sub-brands: standard MIMARU (large open-plan apartments) and MIMARU SUITES (two or more bedrooms).

How many people can actually stay in one room?

Up to 10 in the largest suites — the official pages list configurations up to 8 adults plus 4 children — which makes MIMARU one of the very few Japanese options where a three-generation family shares one door. Children 6 and under co-sleep free (two per room, outside the guest count), baby cribs are free for under-2s, and bunk-bed ‘Family Apartments’ and tatami-bedded ‘Japanese Apartments’ (twin beds plus futons) cover the middle sizes.

What’s in the kitchen?

A real one, per the official equipment list: induction stovetop, fridge, microwave, kettle, pots, frying pan, knives and cutting board, bowls, colanders, cooking utensils, full tableware and cutlery, plus dish soap and sponges. Rice cookers and toasters are lendable, as are halal cooking sets and prayer mats. Every location officially advertises convenience stores and supermarkets nearby — the whole model assumes you’ll actually cook, or at least assemble spectacular depachika dinners at your own table.

What are the Pokemon Rooms?

Official Pokemon-themed apartments at exactly 10 MIMARU properties (five in Tokyo — Ikebukuro, Kinshicho, Ueno East, Ginza East, Hatchobori; four in Kyoto; one in Osaka): 38–60m², sleeping 4–6, decorated with a hundred Pokemon, furnished with bunk or loft beds, and stocked with a four-item guest novelty set. Book the specific Pokemon Room category on the official site — it’s a distinct room type, not a request — and note the design details can’t be chosen. They sell out furthest ahead of anything the brand offers.

Does MIMARU serve breakfast?

No — officially none (‘Unfortunately, MIMARU does not provide breakfast service’), and there’s no restaurant or room service. That’s the model: the kitchen is your restaurant, delivery and takeout are explicitly welcomed, and the dining table for six is the amenity Japanese hotels never give you. Budget the konbini-breakfast ritual or morning bakery run into the plan.

What are check-in and check-out times — is there a curfew?

Check-in 15:00 (earlier if your room happens to be ready), check-out 11:00 — an hour later than most Japanese business hotels. Arrivals after 22:00 are fine with advance notice to the property. The official pages publish no curfew; doors run on 24-hour security. Late checkout sells by the hour (¥3,000/hour, to 18:00, subject to availability), and luggage stores free 7:00–22:00 on arrival and departure days.

Is there a membership discount?

Yes, with a precise catch: the free membership takes 10% off the Best Rate Plan specifically (not every plan), and adds 1,000 points per night stayed (granted three days after checkout, valid two years). OTA bookings earn nothing. There’s also an official best-rate guarantee: find the same conditions cheaper on another site and email a screenshot within 24 hours of booking. For families comparing against two hotel rooms elsewhere, the one-apartment price usually wins before any discount.

How does housekeeping work?

Apartment-style: cleaning starts from the third day and runs every second day thereafter — not daily — with fresh towels available on request between services. It’s the trade that funds the space. If daily turndown matters more to you than a kitchen, a conventional hotel fits better; our where-to-stay guide maps those trade-offs tier by tier.

Who is MIMARU actually best for?

Groups the Japanese hotel industry underserves: families of four-plus who refuse to split across rooms, three-generation trips, friend groups wanting a shared living room, travelers with dietary needs who’d rather cook (the halal cookware and prayer-mat lending is official), and week-plus stays where laundry (coin machines on site) and groceries beat restaurant fatigue. Staff from 35 countries handle the multilingual reality. Solo travelers and couples pay for space they won’t use — the standard hotel tiers serve them better.

Ready to book? Check availability →

Affiliate link — English checkout, no extra fee. See our disclosure.

Bottom line (2026) — MIMARU is the apartment-hotel brand that puts a whole family in one room. Every unit has a real kitchen and dining table, sizes run 38–100m² for up to 10 guests, and 10 of its 29 Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka properties hide Pokemon-themed rooms. Membership gets you 10% off — worth it for longer family stays.

Sources

Concept, sizes, capacity and city counts (including the September and October 2026 Osaka openings): MIMARU's official about pages. Kitchen and lending-item lists, cleaning cycle, luggage and arrival rules, late checkout fees and the no-breakfast policy: official hotel and FAQ pages. Pokemon Room locations, sizes, capacities and the novelty set: the official Pokemon Room pages. Membership terms and the best-rate guarantee: the official membership pages. Staff-nationality figure: official about page (as of January 2025). All read on August 20, 2026. The embedded video is by its creator.

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you book or buy through them — at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.

Free weekly email

Japanese-only news,
in English

Every week we read the Japanese sources English-language media never touches — new openings, price changes, limited releases, rule changes, the seasonal things that come and go in three weeks — and send you a three-minute read of what actually matters. Hit reply with a question about your trip and a human answers.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime. We never share your address.

Let's share this post !