Love Hotels have a long history in Japan. Back in the 1600s, they were places where samurai could discreetly meet with women, to today where they’re simply a place for couples to rent a room for a few hours of alone time together.
In a country where most young people live with their parents until they get married, and extended families being together under one roof isn’t uncommon, Love Hotels provide a necessary escape for many.
Given that Love Hotels in Japan are visited by around 2.5 million people per day, it’s an experience shared by many. Which is why the hashtag ＃ラブホあるある (#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf) was recently trending on Japanese Twitter. We’ve picked some of our favorite examples here to share
From The OUTSIDE Looking In
Before you even step inside a Love Hotel, quite often there’s plenty of signs to show that you’re going into a special place. Here are some of them as pointed out by Japanese Twitter:
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf The license plates on the cars are covered up like this.
Even the parking garage stands out! Boards to cover up license plates are common in order to provide extra privacy for guests. The reason is because the last thing anyone wants is a photo taken of their car, which then gets posted on social media to be identified.
…although the unusual boards themselves get people to take pictures and post them anyway. Just be sure to clear our your conspicuous collection of dashboard plushies before you park!
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf The names are hilarious.
The names of the hotels here are “Banana and Donut Hotel,” “Hotel Study Room,” and “Hotel Make Me Come.” The first and last ones are quite on the nose (or whatever body part you prefer), but that middle one looks like it could be a bit confusing to some.
Speaking of which…
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf
Child-Me: “Mom, does a princess live in that castle? Can I live there?”
Mom: “Sure, if you find a prince, but….”
Child-Me: “But what?”
Mom: “You have to make sure you don’t end up like Little Red Riding Hood.”
Now I understand, Mom.
Quite often the outsides of Love Hotels are designed to look like castles or something else enticing, like this next tweet shows.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf It looks like a place a child might want to go.
It’s a strange contrast, the Disney-esque G-rated outside to the X-rated inside, but it’s all to attract customers. Not only do people notice it more, but having a gentle appearance can make people feel more comfortable about going.
And sometimes their choice of outer-appearance can be a bit eccentric:
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf You see the Statue of Liberty in Shiga. You can see it from the shinkansen!
“Give me your horny, your aroused, your repressed couples yearning to breathe free.”
It’s What INSIDE That Counts
Of course, it’s the inside of Love Hotels that really set them apart. Here’s what Japanese Twitter users had to say about some common threads between them:
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf Your room is a Japanese garden.
There are regular hotel rooms that do “theme rooms” with a few decals or paintings on the wall, and then there are Love Hotel theme rooms, which are on a completely different level.
The fancy rooms are part of the Love Hotel experience. You can get a bed anywhere, but you can only get a bed surrounded by lanterns, stone gardens, and wooden bridges at a Love Hotel.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf Your hotel room is more real than reality.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are rooms modeled after everyday places. A living room, a classroom, and a train station are just some of the examples above. A Chinese-royalty bedroom might not be “real” for most people, but maybe it’s that feeling of sneaking away in a museum that they’re chasing after.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf Your bath tub looks like this.
In a normal hotel, you might feel bad about pouring an entire container of bath bubbles into the water. But at a Love Hotel, it’s what you’re supposed to do in some rooms, so enjoy!
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf You have a view of the bathing area from the bed.
Most places try to ensure privacy for those who are bathing. But at a Love Hotel, peeping on your partner is what you’re there to do.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf The your room is so amazing that you don’t even want to have sex anymore (this is a compliment).
Is that a success or failure on the part of the Love Hotel? It’s kind of like if a chef bakes a cake that looks too good to eat. Sure, it’s fun to say when you take a few pictures of it, but you know deep down that you can’t wait to stuff your face with that sweet, sweet frosting.
Advanced Love Hotel Technology
Love Hotels employ a variety of systems to ensure privacy for guests. From the license plate covers we saw earlier, to fully-automated check-ins, they want to reassure customers of their anonymity as much as possible.
Although some of the technology found in Love Hotels can be a bit confusing, such as:
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf Your phone looks like this.
While no explanation was given as to why Love Hotels tend to use these kinds of phones, it came up over and over again in the hashtag.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf The “9” on the phone is fading away.
The nine button is usually used to call the front desk. Considering the volume of guests at Love Hotels and the fact that their time spent there is more “fun” than at other hotels, ordering food or other services would result in a lot of faded nines.
As for why all the phones are squiggly, we can only guess. Maybe they’re to add a little cool flavor to the rooms that a normal phone wouldn’t? Or maybe they just bought them in bulk at a discount? Further research is required on the topic.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf You pay via air-tube.
Why bother with a face-to-face transaction when you can simply plop some cash in an anonymous pneumatic tube? While most modern Love Hotels simply use a much more sensible vending-machine-like service instead, there’s something to be said for the satisfaction of communicating with an unknown entity through the power of air pressure.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf The up and down elevators are different.
The last thing you want to have happen at a Love Hotel is to run into your boss or mother in the elevator. With elevators ingeniously separated into up-only and down-only, you never have to see other guests coming or going, and they never have to see you.
#YouMightBeInALoveHotelIf Your partner says it’s their first time there but their wi-fi automatically connects!!!
Honesty is the best policy for any relationship, so if they lie about that, you might want to reconsider your options.
Or you could just ask the relationship experts at the Sumida Aquarium what to do. They’d probably say something like, “Coral reefs are like the Love Hotels of the ocean. When a fellow fish invites you to one, make sure they’re not an octopus in disguise ready to gobble you up.”
Unless you’re into that, of course.
