Not my experience at all... I've used APA throughout the whole of Japan and they are consistently good. Especially in terms of furnishings and soundproofing. They're also extremely cheap and available in almost every city. What you say about the rooms could be said about basically any hotel of course.
I'm from the UK where even a crap hotel costs $80-100/night, so being able to pay under $40 for the quality APA provides (even if the rooms are small) is insane to me.
Notice that I mentioned that they get bad outside of touristic areas. I mean the ones where someone from the UK wouldn't normally stay, like a business area or a local transportation hub.
Meaning the ones used by drunks, drug addicts, and prostitutes.
I've stayed in a bunch of them across the country but maybe I haven't been to any particularly rough areas. They all have a practically identical layout (both building and rooms) as far as I can tell. Any examples?
I am not talking about layout. I am talking about unclean bathrooms and beds, mold, cigarrette smells in the corridors, people falling over in the corridors, weird noises at night, aircons that don't work.
APA does not provide top notch maintenance for its hotels in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Nishi Kasai, Meidaimae, or any non important area.
If you stay in the hotel close to the central station of a small town - that's touristic. Japanese tourists are staying there.
What I mean is that APA is really bad off the beaten path, and since the article recommends branching off, using APA is a very bad idea.
I've stayed in an APA that literally had a sign outside advertising short stays (=love hotel) and even that one was really nice and well-run (lol)
Avoid APA at all costs, especially outside touristic areas. APA is used by everyone for all things, legal or not, and the state of your room may vary wildly.