Inside Japan’s love hotels
Young Japanese people have a problem: until they’re married, most of them live with their parents—even if they’re pulling in a healthy salary. Since housing in Japan’s crowded cities is exorbitantly expensive, that’s great for the budget; it’s less good for the old sex life. So what’s a young couple to do? Enter the “love ...
Young Japanese people have a problem: until they're married, most of them live with their parents—even if they're pulling in a healthy salary. Since housing in Japan's crowded cities is exorbitantly expensive, that's great for the budget; it's less good for the old sex life. So what's a young couple to do?
Young Japanese people have a problem: until they’re married, most of them live with their parents—even if they’re pulling in a healthy salary. Since housing in Japan’s crowded cities is exorbitantly expensive, that’s great for the budget; it’s less good for the old sex life. So what’s a young couple to do?
Enter the “love hotel,” Japan’s creative solution to this problem. Rooms are usually rented by the hour, and they’re often decorated in outlandish styles. Under a recent law, they must be located in red light districts like Tokyo’s famous Shinjuku.
Dwell magazine contributor Misty Keasler has been to a lot of love hotels… if only because she has a new photo-packed book on the subject. It’s at turns fascinating and disturbing—but never boring.
My favorite fantasy room? The Hello Kitty S&M room at Hotel Adonis in Osaka:
(Hat tip: Boing Boing)
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