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"Recently, more women are holding group gatherings at love hotels," says Yuka Aoki, an editor employed by Teidan, publisher of LH-NEXT, a quarterly trade magazine for the love hotel industry. "As for myself, I am fine with 'Hitori Rabuho,'" she says, coining a word meaning to stay overnight alone in a no-tell motel. "They are far more luxurious than the so-called city hotels."
Aoki tells Nikkan Gendai (Oct 10) that Japan's love hotels are not just respectable, but are "evolving dramatically." When it comes to serving meals, hotels these days take the policy of "produce locally, consume locally" to heart, offering their customers fresh vegetables, locally caught fish and choice cuts of meat. One such establishment is the Noah Resort in Fujisawa City. Nine of its rooms feature a spectacular view of the Enoshima coastline from room windows. (http://www.hotenavi.com/noahresort/index.html)
In addition to a Halloween Fair underway since Sept 21, it's also promoting the view of the upcoming Fujisawa-Enoshima Fireworks Festival scheduled for next Saturday evening, Oct 17. Its kitchen offers a Shonan-style dish of tiny white "shirasu" (baby sardines) heaped over a bowl of rice, with pickles on the side, for just 580 yen.
According to Aoki, because love hotels earn more profits the longer the customers occupy their rooms, it's in their interest to keep them inside at meal times, and they can be more generous in terms of the food they serve. Another specialty of Noah Resort is a 200-gram steak dinner of succulent A-ranked Hida beef from Gifu Prefecture for 5,000 yen.
The menu items offered at other love hotels include pancakes -- popular with the gals -- pasta and rice gratin dishes. Among the more upscale items are kaiseki-style tofu, Morioka-style cold noodles and "hitsuma-bushi" (charcoal-grilled eel fillets in a soy-based sauce, cut into small pieces and served on rice).
Another strategy being adopted to woo customers is offering more and better amenities. It's become common to offer bath salts, hair rinse, cleansing lotions and other beauty preparations. Some establishments go so far as to splurge by providing L'Occitane-brand items imported from France.
Rooms where guests can soak away their cares while luxuriating in jacuzzis are par for the course. Just bring along a bottle of bubbly and you can eat, drink and be merry -- accompanied by a high-fidelity karaoke unit -- until the wee hours of the night.
Kotoko Hyuga, who describes her calling as "love hotel critic," reports to her astonishment and delight of a 22-room establishment in Kitamoto City, Saitama Prefecture, named Hotel Pariett, that provides reserved guests with limousine service from and to Kitamoto station (on the Takasaki line) in a California T model Ferrari convertible! All major credit cards are accepted, and according to the hotel's web site, rooms may be occupied by "three persons and over." Hmmmm. (http://www.hotenavi.com/pariett/index.html)
A spokesperson for Hotel Pariett is quoted as saying, "The charge, including room accommodations, is 20,000 yen. Not many people use the Ferarri though, because its exhaust is so noisy."
"Other love hotels are said to issue coupons that "welcome the entire family," says Hyuga. "There are places that feature interiors of designer furniture, and others that offer out-of-doors bathing in a 'roten-buro.' I even know of a place that can arrange for wedding dress rentals, for people who want to shoot keepsake photographs."
The aforementioned editor Aoki also advises male readers, "If you're hoping to make it with a lady, I suggest you reserve a room the day before. Nothing throws a wet blanket on romance faster than cruising around to one hotel after another, and finding that they're all fully occupied."
© Japan Today
29 Comments
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sensei258
I'd bring a black light with me if I were you
WA4TKG
You should just stay HOME, by YOURSELF " Teacher ", then you won't have anything to WORRY about, lol.
TheGodfather
Hmmmm...
GalapagosnoGairaishu
Trade publications tend to be pretty dull. I wonder if LH-NEXT features racy photographs and erotic manga.
warispeace
I was having me a sushi from a seedy love-hotel cafe. I was eatin’ it with wasabi when my lover turned to me to say...
GalapagosnoGairaishu
They livin' it up at the Hotel Enoshima What a wild time (what a wild time) Serve your beer with lime
"Goyukkuri, " said the night man, "We're delighted to receive. You can check-in any time you like, Under whatever name you can conceive! "
forzaducati
I don’t care how luxurious a love hotel is. If the cleaning lady doesn’t use a flame thrower, they won’t be seeing me in such a place.
choiwaruoyaji
Another good amenity a love hotel can provide is a wall-mounted "St. Andrew's Cross" with handcuffs.
Occasionally can find one in a Japanese love hotel but unfortunately rare.
A lot of fun for a bit of soft SM.
Mirai Hayashi
I think they are forgetting the purpose of a love hotel..
GalapagosnoGairaishu
Their purpose is whatever the proprietor deems fit. Presumably it is to make a profit.
edojin
As I have said before in this thread, my wife and I always enjoy staying in love hotels while motoring around the country. Because, I guess, it is unusual for the hotel staff to see married couples check in, they give us first-class treatment. Clean rooms, often the best scenery in the place, all kinds of unusual stuff to see ... plus a convenient place to park the car (which is rented, as I don't own a car). And you don't have to make reservations. Plus ... never had a bad experience.
shonanbb
We rent all the outfits. yumyum
Wc626
Where are the sperm donors? No wonder a declining population.
Wakarimasen
so basically they are just becoming hotels. it is way cheaper to stay in lovehotels when out and about in Japan than the normal business ones or extortionate ryokan. Have done so many times
WilliB
Sensei:
You´d get the same result in a city or luxury hotel, if not worse. The love hotel clearning crews are incredibly efficient, and most surfaces are usually designed to be easy to clean, unlike in normal hotels.
nath
Love hotels probably get cleaned a lot more often than regular hotels as well, 2-3 times a day vs. once.
Mocheake
The wife and I have been staying at rabuho when we travel for quite a few years now. There are some really nice ones in Shizuoka and Nagano with much bigger and cleaner rooms than most city hotels. Pretty good value.
WilliB
Strangerland:
They get cleaned after each use, which can be be a lot more often than 2-3 times a day. (Remember, "short time" = 2 hrs). And the rooms are designed to be cleaned well.
nath
Well, that's the point I was getting at - you just explained it better.
Thunderbird2
Love the huge baths in those places... and the funky lighting.
WilliB
Thunderbird:
Me too!
Mirai Hayashi
Or you can argue that place that openly displays vending machines sex toys, has condoms on the head board, has only one bed, plays free porn flicks, has only one real purpose and is not inviting for the "family". And if the proprietor thinks that's a family friendly atmosphere, either they're an idiot on just fooling themselves
Steve Crichton
I said to my wife when I first arrived in Japan, "30 dollars an hour ,wow thats cheap". She said," but that doesnt include a girl darling". Funny.
keika1628
I guess you showed your marriage cert through the hole in the wall and a ghost showed you the room.
gokai_wo_maneku
According to what we read, people, especially young people, are not interested in having sex anymore. So I guess love hotels have to change with the times.
timtak
I once took a class of foreign and Japanese students to a love hotel as part of a Japanese culture course in my previous university. We were chucked out after a few minutes, without having to pay despite my intention to do so.
Goodlucktoyou
Love to go to one, but scared of hidden cameras. A couple of women friends go there to buy "adult accessories" because it is discrete.
Clark Parker Thetokyofiles
Comment by Wakarimasen said that love hotels are basically "just becoming hotels. it is way cheaper to stay in love hotels when out and about in Japan than the normal business ones or extortionate ryokan."
This point is very true. Not only have love hotels started to shed their "seedy" reputation, but in many cases they can be booked online with traditional hotel booking websites like Expedia or Booking.com.
http://thetokyofiles.com/2016/02/23/travel-sites-love-hotels-japan/