Love Hotels: An Inside Look at Japan’s Sexual Playgrounds
Interested in learning something about Japanese love hotels? Ed Jacob’s new book Love Hotels: An Inside Look at Japan’s Sexual Playgrounds
As one would expect from it’s title, this book explains Japan’s love hotels to an English speaking audience. The first portion of the book contains a interesting history of the sex industry. One eventually finds oneself in the Post-War period, when the birth of the love hotel was born. It turns out that the operators of such hotels used a variety of names before the term “love hotel” became popular (quotation from the introduction of the “Origin” section):
The oldest name, moteru, dates back to the 1950s and comes from the English “motel.” When Japanese people hear this word, rather than imagining family road trips during the summer vacation, they think of sex, because when the motor hotel came to Japan, it was used exclusively by couples looking for a place to spend some intimate time together.
When motels moved into the downtown areas, they needed a new name, and came to be known as abecu hoteru, which comes from the French word “avec” and means “with.” People who use this term are showing their age, though, because that‘s how love hotels were referred to in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The word “rabu hoteru” dates back to the early 1970s, and the name came about quite by accident. Apparently, it originated in Osaka, where there was a popular hotel called the “Hotel Love.” It had a neon sign, and the name circled around and around, so confused patrons often referred to it as the Love Hotel‘ because that was how they had seen it on the sign. Love hotel is still the most popular term, but more often than not, it gets shortened to ”rabuho.‟
Later portions of the book go into detail about the inner workings of the love hotel industry, including some interviews with operators of love hotels. It also contains reviews of individual love hotels found in Tokyo and Osaka, with helpful guide information provided for those who want to know how one goes about staying at a love hotel. And, of course, there are lots of sleazy love hotel-related stories and translations of diary notebook entries written at love hotels.
This book is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.jp. For sample pages, check out the book’s official website.
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Japanese love hotels are really interesting. There is nothing like that in the States.
Uh, except MOTELs? If I’m not mistaken there are / were motels you could check into for hours at a time.
There is a great variety of them however, and the more saucy ones definitely are not something you see. But there’s a lot of boring love hotels which amount to little more than a regular hotel/motel with just a sex toy menu.
It depends on the location. In my state, it’s illegal for any establishment to offer hourly rates. The vast majority of the US is similar in legislation discouraging love-hotel-like behavior.
So, in the big picture, Timothy is right. There really isn’t anything like that here.
And the question is, are these motels merely shitty rooms, or do they come with Hello Kitty themes and revolving beds in the shape of the Space Battleship Yamato?
mostly shitty regular rooms. but those are never included in features on them sent out. the only thing that is across the board is 1) a large bathtub usually with jacuzzi like jets, and 2) a slot machine has been in probably 3/4 – 1/3 of the rooms i have been in in central honshu.
How often would a married couple go to a love hotel? From what I hear, they must get a lot of visitors.
married couples go obviously as much as they want to. I’ve not met a married couple who has ever spoke about going to one, except for mixed marriages. Love hotels tend to be an option when you are out on a date like night with your partner –> kind of a “let’s pretend we are young again,” thing.
It seems love hotels target secret affairs and the such, at least out here in the boonies. Whenever I have driven inside quite a few of the license plates are protected by hotel supplied boards of wood or metal to prop against the end of your car.
Also targets minors, (non-explicitly,) since obviously some slutty middle/highschool girls have a lot of spending money.
(Oh, and live with their parents… until they are 30!)
“How often would a married couple go to a love hotel?”
More often than you might expect, especially when they live with parents from one side.
i have made it a personal goal to patronize every single Love Hotel in Dogenzaka. I’m about 10 deep already! ganbare!
Ganbare D-San!!Ike! ike!