Osaka Love Hotels

Love hotels are quite simply a very very Japanese experience.

Although rooms rented by the hour in western countries tend to have a tacky seedy feel love hotels are a way of life here and you can experience some really wacky ideas and themes in them which sometimes puts the reason for their existance in second place!

There are a couple of concentrations of such hotels in Osaka, The first is Umeda a stones throw from the station where (around the Doyama avenue area), it’s presumed, randy couples go for a quicky before (?) or after work or add their conjugals to a Saturday shopping expidition.

The second is in Namba near the OCAT airport-bus terminal, the JR loop line station, Yotsubashi subway exits, and the Osaka FM building (looks like a massive UFO!). This second area is easier to spot as the hotels are many, and also very gaudy with lots of neon signs.

If you want to have a go at one of these places then it’s usually a simple procedure.

Take your other half (or halves or just yourself!) into the entrance and usually there is a board showing the available rooms. Choose a suitable one in terms of price (from around 3,000 yen up), theme, facilities and size, and press the button. That’s the reservation dealt with!

Next up to the room and get your thang on. There’s usually a mini bar and TV, sometimes free Karaoke for a warm up or post-coiltal bonding and often a vending machine with anything from edible panties to love toys.

After an hour, or you can even stay the night - rates are posted on the entrance board - back down to reception and pay usually through a hole in the wall which offers the facade of anonymity (but legends are told of hotels filming the acitivites inside the rooms for later distribution!) as well as the omniscient security cameras.

Anyways, its nice to imagine that your privacy is protected.

And there you have it. Worth having a go just for a laugh and the story.