For those of you who don't know, a love hotel is.... exactly what it sounds like. Basically it is a specific type of hotel where you can stay for a 'rest' (30minutes to 3 hours) or for the entire evening to enjoy some privacy with that special someone. It does sound sketchy (and it is!) but it also kind of makes sense in Japan. Hard to find time for some privacy when the whole extended family is all living under the same roof! Anyways, I'd heard about these 'couples hotels' before so naturally I had to check it out... though my experience was slightly different. Well, alright, it was very different. We went into a section of Tokyo called Uguisudani, it is up by Ueno and there isn't too much there apart from Love Hotels.
One rainy day Emelie and I decided to go in search of a themed love hotel to hang out in. I realize that sounds sketchy but some of the themes available sound so cool - space ships, caves, ocean, subway cars, etc. Unfortunately we were unable to find a themed hotel plus, as I said, it is incredibly sketchy so we just chose a hotel by looking at prices and pictures of the rooms posted outside. There were traditional styled rooms made to resemble Japanese hot springs resorts but we were lured into a cheap, 3 hour room offering a jacuzzi, karaoke, and free wireless internet. As spur of the moment as this might sound we did our research and came prepared with bathing suits, crossword puzzles, string to make friendship bracelets, and my kindle.
We weren't sure what to expect but we read up on the internet that a big seller for Love Hotels is how discreet they are. Some don't have receptionists, just machines that take your money and give you a key. Ours had a receptionist - I guess the discreet bit was that she didn't give us (two gaijin/foreigner girls) any weird looks. Once we got to our room we poked our noses into just about everything trying to figure out if there was any shampoos and toothbrushes we could pocket. Our room wasn't that big but I guess it was big enough to get the job done.
They made it a bit difficult to take snacks from the mini fridge - it was basically a vending machine. In order to get to any of the snacks you had to pay first.
The bathroom was spacious! In Japan, it's custom to shower before getting into the tub and enjoying your bath. This bath had mood lights and a tv built into the wall.. so we made a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub, got into our swimsuits, and watched the first half of one of the Harry Potter movies.
The hotel provides you with some chef jackets/bath robes
After our little dip in the tub we got out of our swimsuits and into our robes and watched the rest of the Harry Potter movie while playing scrabble on my kindle. All in all it was a nice experience- it was really just a mini spa day. There's not really an easy way to explain and describe this excursion to Uguisidani with Emelie to search out love hotels... but I did my best. At least now I can say I've been to a love hotel.
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