Unusual Life

A “Love Hotel” has a very special place in Japanese life. It’s a short-stay hotel, not for sleeping, but for making love. They also have these hotels in Singapore, Hong Kong and other places in Asia. They’re usually for rent from 1-3 hours and you forfeit your room when you leave.

A good book about these places is “Love Hotels” by Ed Jacob.

Although cheaper hotels are often quite utilitarian, higher-end hotels may feature fanciful rooms decorated with anime characters, equipped with rotating beds, ceiling mirrors, or karaoke machines, strange lighting or styled similarly to dungeons, sometimes including S&M gear.

Love hotels can usually be identified using symbols such as hearts and the offer of a room rate for a “rest” as well as for an overnight stay. The period of a “rest” varies, typically ranging from one to three hours. Cheaper daytime off-peak rates are common.

These hotels are typically either concentrated in city districts close to stations, near highways on the city outskirts, or in industrial districts. Love hotel architecture is sometimes garish, with buildings shaped like castles, boats or UFOs and lit with neon lighting. However, some more recent love hotels are very ordinary looking buildings, distinguished mainly by having small, covered, or even no windows

It is estimated that more than 500 million visits to love hotels take place each year, which means around 1.4 million couples, or 2 percent of Japan’s population, visit a love hotel each day.

Alternative names include “romance hotel”, “fashion hotel”, “leisure hotel”, “amusement hotel”, “couples hotel”, and “boutique hotel”.

Instead of Gideon Bibles, many Love Hotels instead have menus where guests can order lube and sex toys.

No-tell love hotels cash in catering to the carnal (Japan Times)

Guide to Japan’s Love Hotels

Love Hotel Information Site