On Friday, November 20, 2026, the hostel "WeBase NARA" holds its grand opening on the 7th floor of Mi-Nara (ミ・ナーラ), a commercial facility in Nara City. It is the sixth WeBase location in Japan.
Inside is the hourly lounge "BE CRAZY by WeBase NARA," which offers "THE UNSENT LETTERS," a way to leave a letter that is never sent, along with experiences involving books, a typewriter, and a journey note. The lounge proposes a trip measured not only by how many sightseeing spots are visited but also by an hour spent simply on something you like. Non-guests can use it from ¥660 per hour (tax included).
BE CRAZY in the Ancient Capital of Nara: How Long Will You Put Off What You Love?
A book you want to read, someday. Words you want to write, eventually.
The things people like best are often made to sit at the end of the line, after everything else is done.
The lounge is built around the line 「好きに狂えるほど、人生は長くない。」 ("Life isn't long enough to go crazy for what you love").
People work efficiently, deliver results, and have even become good at filling the blank spaces in their travel plans. Still, there can be time used simply because you like something, before you ask whether it will be of any use. BE CRAZY is a place for that kind of hour.
Despite the name "BE CRAZY," what visitors become absorbed in here is a single book or a single letter. Under the theme "The Journey & Books," the lounge provides a desk, a chair, and time for the things people have been putting off, since life is limited and there is no need to always leave what you like for last.
THE UNSENT LETTERS: Some Things Can Only Be Written Because They Won't Be Sent
Press the send button and words arrive at once. Even so, there are things that can be written precisely because they won't be sent.
"THE UNSENT LETTERS" means letters that are not sent. They might be addressed to someone you never got to tell, someone you can no longer see, or yourself. Writing without thinking about the reaction after delivery may bring out words you did not know until you began. Visitors write a letter at a desk while traveling and leave it at the lounge.
The letters that are written stay at the lounge, and visitors can read them freely. They are never mailed. Visitors can look for a letter addressed to themselves, or touch the story of a person through a letter addressed to someone who shares their name. People who cheer on the same person can also leave their feelings for that person in a letter. A relationship with the shelf can begin with either reading or writing.
Even if a letter never reaches the person it is addressed to, it may reach someone who visits the lounge.
Unsent letters create unexpected encounters.
Continuing a Book Belongs in the Travel Plan, Too
People read not because they will learn something but because they want to know what happens next. Visitors choose a book from the shelf and read as far as they like, with no need to hurry to the end. An hour that ends before the book does still has its own pleasure of reading. Some days of a trip could have "keep reading" written in the plan.
With a Typewriter, Pausing for One Character at a Time
Each key pressed prints one character on the paper. At the typewriter, visitors can type the name of a place they walked that day in Roman letters, or a short sentence that comes to mind in English letters.
Spending more time than usual to type a single line is part of the appeal, including the pause while choosing the next key.
Journey Note: Your Own Handwriting in Your Travel Record
There are things that did not show up in photos, such as why you turned down a certain road or how you felt at the time. Things only you want to remember can go into a short sentence. The "Journey Note" (ジャーニーノート) is a notebook in which visitors record the roads they walked and the moments that moved them, and finish each page with stamps. What to write, where to stamp, and how much blank space to leave are all up to the writer. Even with no plan to show it to anyone, the trip becomes a single book.
BE CRAZY also has original goldfish stamps. The lounge suggests ways to link the time spent in the building on the pages of one notebook, such as writing what you are looking forward to before visiting Nara Kingyo Museum (奈良金魚ミュージアム), which is also inside Mi-Nara, or recording the colors and scenery you want to remember afterward.
A Base WeBase Is Creating in Nara: Walk the City, Then Write About It at the Inn
WeBase is a hotel and hostel brand that has aimed to be a base connecting travelers from Japan and abroad with local communities. In Nara, the question it poses is whether the richness of a trip is decided only by the number of places visited.
What BE CRAZY proposes is time spent absorbed in what you like, apart from results and other people's evaluations. Centered on "unsent letters," in which words meant to be conveyed to someone are first written for oneself, the lounge connects the separate hours of reading a book, pressing typewriter keys, and finishing a notebook. Guests can still choose convenient tools or a packed itinerary. The inn simply adds a place where they can spend time without having to accomplish anything.
A trip to Nara means encountering history and culture handed down over a long time. The idea is to layer onto such a day one hour of turning your attention to what you like, and to add a way of spending time after returning to a base for heading out into the city. That is the link between the hostel WeBase NARA and the lounge BE CRAZY.
WeBase Representative Director Naoki Abe (阿部直樹) says:
What we, as an operator of lodging facilities, want to offer travelers is more than a place to sleep. It is the freedom to choose for themselves what to spend time on during a trip. There can be days of visiting many places, and days of not moving from a single book. Time spent absorbed simply because you like something belongs to that person, even if it is not counted as an achievement. 「好きに狂えるほど、人生は長くない。」 We want to create a place that lets travelers set aside an hour like that in their itinerary.
BE CRAZY Usage Guide: From ¥660 per Hour, for as Long as You Like
BE CRAZY is a lounge where visitors can choose a stay of 1 hour, 3 hours, or a full day, whether to read the rest of a book or to look for the first line of a letter. Non-guests can also use it. Accommodation and the lounge are separate services with separate fees.
Time-based fees (tax included)
- 1 hour: ¥660
- 3 hours: ¥1,650
- Full day: ¥2,200 (until 8:00 PM on the day)
- Included in the fee: Lounge use and self-serve drinks
- Hours: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. These fees are separate from accommodation rates.
Notebooks and stationery sold separately (tax included)
- Notebook (1): ¥550
- Envelope set (1 envelope and 3 sheets of letter paper): ¥550
- A4 paper set for the typewriter (3 sheets): ¥150
Participation in THE UNSENT LETTERS requires purchase of the envelope set (¥550, tax included). The lounge fee is charged separately. Prices for notebooks and stationery are not included in the time-based fees.
WeBase NARA Facility Details
- Facility name: WeBase NARA (ウィーベース ナラ)
- In-house lounge: BE CRAZY by WeBase NARA (ビー クレイジー)
- Address: 7th floor, Mi-Nara (ミ・ナーラ), 1-3-1 Nijo-oji-minami (二条大路南), Nara City, Nara Prefecture 630-8012
- Grand opening: Friday, November 20, 2026
- BE CRAZY hours: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
- Rooms: 88 dormitory beds and 5 private rooms
- Capacity: Up to 108 guests
- Facilities: Shared showers and toilets
- Accommodation: Room only (no meals). Check-in 3:00 PM to 12:00 AM; check-out 11:00 AM
- Age requirements: Preschool children cannot stay. Elementary school students can stay only when an entire room is booked for them with an adult guardian. Guests under 16 need an adult guardian. Guests aged 16 to 17 staying without a guardian need a consent form from a person with parental authority. There is no free co-sleeping.
- Plans currently on sale: Only a women-only accommodation plan is currently on sale.
- Payment: Cashless only (no cash)
For accommodation plan rates, availability, and sales conditions, please check the official website.
Access and Official Information
Get off at the Nara Kotsu (奈良交通) bus stop "宮跡庭園." It is about 6 minutes from Shin-Omiya Station (新大宮駅), about 9 minutes from JR Nara Station, and about 15 minutes from Kintetsu Nara Station. The travel times are estimates and vary with operating conditions.
- Official website: https://we-base.jp/nara/
- Official Instagram (accommodation): https://www.instagram.com/webasenara/
- Official Instagram (lounge): https://www.instagram.com/becrazy.01/
- Mi-Nara official access page: https://www.mina-ra.com/guide/access.jsp
Booking information (as of November 6, 2026)
The general accommodation booking button on the official website is still displayed as it appears before bookings open. For how to apply for the women-only accommodation plan and which rooms it covers, please check with the inquiry desk. The second round of the free-stay giveaway campaign has closed and is separate from general accommodation bookings and plans on sale.
