Japanese Love Hotels

Love Hotels are an interesting part of Japanese culture, although one that can be slightly unsettling for foreigners who are not used to the concept. In the end, they are just hotels you can book hourly, but their anonymous nature also brings certain problems with it.

What is a love hotel?

Love hotels are hotels that you can book hourly and that are targeted at couples that want to spend a few hours or the night together undisturbed. They cost around a few thousand yen per hour if you choose a cheap one.

In Tokyo, you can find a lot of them in Kabukicho in Shinjuku, which is known as the red-light district of Tokyo, and also in Uguisudani which is known as the love hotel district.

In more rural areas you can find them close highways. Usually, they are pretty easy to tell apart from normal hotels because they tend to have really flashy exterior decorations and designs. Another hint is that love hotels usually do not have many, or only small, windows.

Love hotel that looks like a castle

The inside can look like a regular hotel but in general, rooms in love hotels are slightly bigger, come with luxurious beds and bathtubs, and other fancy extras. Some hotels also decorate their rooms according to certain themes. You can find love hotels in Japan that have rooms which look like classrooms, a dungeon from the Middle Ages, or a Hello Kitty wonderland.

Most hotels also have additional services like the rental of costumes, adult toys or massage chairs, and food delivery services.

Love hotels are anonymous

Love hotels are designed to ensure privacy. That might be because in Japanese society it is not common to show affection to your partner in public. You will never see a Japanese couple kissing in a public space. Everything that goes beyond holding hands should stay private.

When you check-in you don’t need to show your ID or write down your name and address. In most cases, you don’t talk to a receptionist but just check-in through a machine in the reception area. Payment is usually done through a vending machine.

Room selection in a love hotel - Photo by Jason7825 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Entry areas are designed so that you can enter discreetly, parking spaces are hidden from the public eye, and as mentioned before there are almost no windows.

A reservation is usually not required. You can just enter and choose one of the open rooms.

Why are love hotels popular?

In places like Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures, apartments tend to be small. Many people use their sleeping space as living space during the day and put away their futon when they wake up. Another issue is that walls can be quite thin in Japan and neighbors might be able hear everything.

I would also consider distance a problem. If, for example, you live in Kanagawa and your partner in Chiba, instead of going to one of your places meeting in Shinjuku and staying at a love hotel for the night would save a lot of time spent on the train.

Another aspect is that love hotels provide an escape from your everyday life with their luxurious or kinky interior designs.

According to Japanese Wikipedia, about 2,000,000 people use love hotels every day in Japan. Recently solo usage of love hotels is also becoming popular among people that want to enjoy a bath in a big bathtub or just to spend a few hours alone.  When I think about the small bathtub in our apartment I kind of can understand that.

Love hotels can also come in handy if you missed the last train home and don’t want to spend the night in a manga café.

Love hotels are popular among foreigners, too

Recently, love hotels also are becoming more and more popular among foreigners. If you have a look at YouTube, you can find a lot of foreigners doing room tours in bizarre love hotel rooms. They have become a sort of tourist attraction.  After all, there are surely some love hotel rooms you can only experience in Japan.

For some travelers love hotels are also an alternative to business hotels because they prefer the larger rooms or only want to stay a few hours. I personally find them rather inconvenient for staying overnight as usually the overnight stay is limited to 8 hours and you have to check in very late or check out very early.

The problem with love hotels

The anonymous nature of love hotels also brings about some problems. Without any records of the guests and no receipts, it is easy for owners to evade taxes.

Japanese Wikipedia also mentions other issues like, cameras that were hidden in hotel rooms and footage being sold on adult video platforms, or sanitary issues. You would think that the rooms are properly cleaned after a visit but that does not seem to be the case for all hotels.

Have you been to a love hotel? Did you enjoy the stay?