>>> Item number 15810 from WRITERS LOG9308A --- (281 records) ---- <<< Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 17:57:01 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: Love Hotels - MORE INFO! little long, but I didn't want to lose the.. the flavor of these wonderful posts I collected. Eliz, you charmer, you are in luck - soc.culture.japan (usenet news group) went wild this week about... LOVE HOTELS. Don't know if the poster that asked about them there had heard the same radio report, but several people had more detailed knowledge than I do. I've sorted through, and picked out some fairly representative stuff... this gentleman insisted it was all told to him, except he goofs... see if you spot the same one I noticed... well, the one that convinced me, there are several slips that hint... (later in the week he admitted it was really from experience, after a number of other people had posted their experiences...) ------------------------------------- From the outside they usually look like a normal, though rather nice, hotel. Some have a theme, shaped like a castle, mosque, whatever. Inside, you enter into a small entrance place where you can see back illuminated pictures of the rooms. Most of the rooms are fairly small, but are nicely furnished, often with a theme. One hotel I've been told about had a space capsule theme with a round bed, all gleaming chrome and space style control panel controls. Often there are things like telephone booth sized saunas, big round baths, rotating beds, vibrating beds. Usually music is piped in, and commonly there is a big bass speaker in the bed that apparantly is felt as well as heard. One room I've been told about had a "Southern US" theme and, surprise surprise, had a second bed (!?!). [my gloss - huh?] Generally they are very well designed. Not all are clean though, and my friend once lifted the mattress to look underneath, and there were, erm, unmentionable items underneath like (deleted). [my gloss - deleted in the original, sorry.] I've been told that you rarely see another person, though occasionally cleaners can be found, and apparantly there is this one hotel (constructed like a castle) which is run by "Nougyou no obaa-sans", out in the country. [my gloss - farming aunt - a rural busybody, I think he means...] Sometimes you pay through receiving a cylinder through a pressurised air tube, and recieve your change the same way. The door to your room is locked for the duration of your stay. Sometimes there's a window that opens, and only hands of the cashier are visible. Soundproofing is quite good, and I've only heard one story of other voices being audible. The cheaper ones were (I was told this information when I was in Japan a few years ago) about 4000yen, sometimes cheaper, for a two-hour period, and up to about 8000yen for a standard, very nice theme room. Some extras can push these prices up a bit. You can order food to your room at nearly any time. Then there are feature rooms. One hotel I've heard about had a round room right on top of the hotel with all-round views, and the huge room rotated. 30,000 yen for two hours. Other such theme rooms exist. [my gloss - 4,000 yen would be about 32 dollars, 8,000 yen is 64, and 30,000 yen is about 240 dollars now.] You can usually drive into the basement of the hotel or an enclosed area for greatest secrecy (often necessary), and park there. [other people commented... Sometimes you have to park outside - but if you do, often they will put a little cover over your license plate on the car so that no one will know it's you right away. Or sometimes there are canvas/plastic flaps that hang down over the entrance to the parking area so your license plate can't be seen. ... end of other people's additions] One of the funniest things I've heard is when you run into people in the foyer. Varying reactions occur. One cool thing that I liked to see is books for people to write things in, to be read by subsequent, erm, guests. One such book had "WATASHI WA SEIRICHUU DE-----SU". One of my friends wrote his home (country) address and name and asked for postcards, but hadn't received any last time I heard. [my gloss - the japanese phrase means "I am xxx", where xxx could be several things (since he left out the kanji on a homonym rich word), but probably sex rich. may be punning, may be a foreigner trying to be funny, hard to tell (my wife said it didn't sound like something a Japanese would write)...] A prophylactic is usually placed on the head of the bed, and phoning can get you replacements. >Any recommendations in case the opportunity ever arises? Don't drink the beer in the fridge, you'll get ripped. [I think he means price-wise - all the hotels have fridges with drinks and snacks, and charge exorbant prices. what else is new?] Search for magazines that review rooms. Some very nice rooms can be had for a reasonable sum. All the rooms are photographed with wide-angle lenses. New Hotels usually give the best quality/cleanliness/price ratio. And, most importantly, NEVER, I repeat, *NEVER* LOOK UNDER THE MATTRESS. Just hearing about it turned my stomach. ----------------------------- [ my gloss - all told to him - except he liked to see the book of sign-ins by previous users... methinks he doth protest too much... onward!] ----------------------------- Well, being a frequent traveler to Japan, and onetime resident, I've used love hotels quite a lot. There are some interesting facts about this kind of hotel: 1. They are primarily intended for "short stay" business. Couples looking for privacy. Prices for short stay are from JY3000 and up. [my gloss - 24 dollars] 2. The rooms are of "fantasy decor". Round beds, mirrors, elaborate bathrooms, baths. Electric gadgets. Closed circuit TVs. Watch out for rooms with mirrors, because someone my be lurking behind it, or worse yet, a video cam feeding the local closed circuit channel! 3. That said, the rooms are almost always clean. Fresh linens every hour! And the staff, helpful, and incredibly discreet. 4. Of course, you can use them for the "intended purpose", and it's a lot of fun. Not sleazy at all. In fact, in a recent survey, most of the customers were young unmarried couples, or businessmen out to lunch for a "quickie", but MARRIED couples. Seems there are few places for privacy in Japanese homes, especially if hubbys mother lives there! 5. Love hotels can be used for CHEAP OVERNIGHT stays too. You see, the busy hours are from 11-3 and 7-11PM. The last trains in Tokyo are around 11:30. So,,,,for about JY6000 you can do an overnight in these fantastic rooms. In fact, many businessmen do just that. I have many times when I ve been out drinking in Shinjuku too late. 6. Lastly, KIDS love LOVE HOTELS. Great place to spend the night with your family. CHEAP, and they love the mirrors, round beds, strange devices in the bathrooms...etc etc. IN short, highly recommended. If you are in Shibuya, just head "up the hill" and look for the purple signs out front. You can't miss them. ----------------------- Never looked under the mattress (other things to do) but the rest sounds pretty normal except to say that they seem to be located in particular areas. For example in Osaka there are many at Kyobashi on the Loop Line and at Juso on the Hankyu line. I don't ride around in cars much but there are congregations of them on the main road going south of Osaka. ------------------------ Okay, I'll fess up. Tried love hotels only three times. Each time was in Osaka near Umeda. Using them was a novelty and also a necessity. I live in a dorm so my girlfriend can't come over for the night and at the the time she had a roommate that made going to her place bothersome. We tried the cheaper ones. One had a backlit back panel with pictures of the rooms available. You just pushed the button for the room you wanted and presto a lady appeared from behind a curtain with the key and directions to the lift. Another the pair of hands gave us keys through the cubby hole and a disembodied voice told us where the room was. And I can't remember the third one. The rooms were always small (as big as mine in the dorm) and without windows. Very well sound-proofed. Each had a shower/bath which could be fun if you don't mind the crampness. The bed always took up most of the floor space. The decorations were simple ( we were in a cheap place, right?) but garish. A fridge with drinks and a TV which we never touched or watched. [my gloss - he probably means a six mat room. 9.9 square meters. hold on - a little more than 8x10 feet, if I figured it right. could be a 4.5 mat room, but that's about the smallest in most dorms, and 6 mat rooms are more common now... cozy, especially with a bed.) We paid between 4 and 6 sen for two hour stints. Which was reasonable in that area. [my gloss - 4,000 to 6,000 yen, 32 to 48 dollars.) I guess the ones we went to were just plain. Nothing fancy. A friend in Kyoto has recommended three of them for their novelties. Each room has a theme, with everything from the sixties to the space shuttle type decor. Plus he said that those are much larger (space-wise) than a normal hotel. All in all it is perfectly understandable to have love hotels considering the housing situation in this country. On my scooter I drive by a few love hotels on Highway #1 or #171. The parking lots are all shielded from the road. The buildings are garishly decorated and it is hard to mistake them for anything but a love hotel. Plus the signs out front list the prices for a "rest". The names of the places are also giveaways: Love Inn, Date Hotel, Liebhaber, etc... Many of my friends have recommended trying a lavish one at least once for the novelty. It certainly makes for a good dinner conversation. :-) ----------------------- I've only been to a few but like the ones where you chose which (slightly weird, always garish) room you want and push a button and lights turn on in the floor leading you to the elevator, which stops as the floor where the room is, and more lights in the floor guide you to the room. Large bed, mirrored ceiling, huge bath, clean, expensive ... fun! ----------------------- I haven't been back to Japan for about 4 years, but four years ago, most love hotels I went to had a large lighted panel in the foyer. In this panel were photos of each room, with the price listed. Beside each room's photo was a button. All you had to do was press the button of the room of your choice, and pay the cashier. When you press the button, the light behind that room's picture goes out, so you have a pretty good idea as soon as you walk in how "full" the hotel is. In the past, I think the cashiers never were supposed to be able to see the patrons. When I was there, there were some heavily publicized murders in the love hotels, so about half the ones I went to had the cashier sit so they could see the patrons. [??? I don't remember this ???] The funniest love hotel experience I had was with four other guys. We went up to Nikko to go sightseeing, and instead of staying at a minshuku or hotel (places that require reservations or are expensive) we decided to stay the night at a love hotel. Outside of Nikko there are a lot of love hotels. We chose Alice no Mori. [my gloss - Alice's Forest is what the name translates to] Only 6,800 yen for a night. This place had a bunch of bungalow-type buildings, each with its own carport/garage. At the entrance, there was a "guardhouse," so two guys sat up in front, while the rest of us hid in back with jackets over us to hide us. We passed the guardhouse without any problems, and pulled into a garage and closed the door. Then we jumped out and went inside. What was waiting for us? A large 27" TV, microwave, fridge and big bed. The bed had a subwoofer underneath it, and had a 100+ music channels to choose from, everything from news to pop, metal, jazz, and yes, even enka. If you wanted to see a video (choose from about 25 US films, 25 Japanese films, and about 25 ero-bideo). You could also order snacks by phoning the "front" desk, things like soba, udon, yaki-soba, etc. Of course, at the head of the bed were the two condoms that are present in every Love Hotel room. The bath was great, about 2.5 meters long and about 1.5 meters wide and 1 meter deep. There was also a foam rubber mat about 6" thick for, uh, comfort, I believe. We didn't use the mat or order any vibratory accessories (which were also available). We had brought beer and munchies, so we were set to spend a lonely night in the love hotel. What made the night even more lonely, was what happened upon our arrival. As we drove in, what did we see driving out, but a car with two _women_ in it. All night we were wondering, were they doing the same as us, or not? Should we have made an effort to invite them to our pad? What a most frustrating night to be spending in a Love Hotel. --------------------- more as I find it out... I think we (my wife and I) are going to have to try this out. Sounds like fun! All thanks to those wonderful folks on writers... (whoops - saw the dollar/yen rate in the news today running almost 1 dollar to 100 yen. I figured at 1 dollar to 125 yen, so all the dollar prices should be increased. Lazy, I'll just warn you that the dollar prices listed will vary with your usage...) tink