'Love hotels can usually be identified using symbols such as hearts and the offer of a room rate for a "rest" as well as for an overnight stay. The period of a "rest" varies, typically ranging from one to three hours. Cheaper daytime off-peak rates are common. In general, reservations are not possible, leaving the hotel will forfeit access to the room, and overnight stay rates only become available after 10pm. These hotels may be used for prostitution or by budget-travelers sharing accommodation.
'Entrances are discreet and interaction with staff is minimized, with rooms often selected from a panel of buttons and the bill settled by pneumatic tube, automatic cash machines, or a pair of hands behind a pane of frosted glass. Although cheaper hotels are often quite utilitarian, higher-end hotels may feature fanciful rooms decorated with anime characters, equipped with rotating beds, ceiling mirrors, or karaoke machines, strange lighting or styled similarly to dungeons, sometimes including S&M gear.
'These hotels are typically either concentrated in city districts close to stations, near highways on the city outskirts, or in industrial districts. Love hotel architecture is sometimes garish, with buildings shaped like castles, boats or UFOs and lit with neon lighting. However, some more recent love hotels are very ordinary looking buildings, distinguished mainly by having small, covered, or even no windows.' -- Japan's Love Hotels
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1. 'The incredible Hotel Loire has rooms more bizarre than you could ever imagine (unless of course you’re the guy who came up with the Kitty S&M room at Adonis). Here’s a partial list: the underwater room, the UFO room, the Jungle Room, and the Pirate Room. The Loire is on the outskirts of Osaka, but can be reached by taking the Tanimachi subway line to Kire-Uriwari station and walking 15 minutes. By car, take the Hanshin Koutsu-Matsuhara-sen and the hotel is five minutes straight ahead after you leave the Kire-Uriwari exit. Address: Matsubara-shi, Miyakenaka, 7-9-13, Tel. (0723) 36-5001.' -- qurirkyjapan.or.tv
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2. 'The Tower's Hotel in Sakuranomiya has everything from a swimming poolroom to billiards tables to a room full of nothing but bumper cars. The hotel is something of an Osaka legend because of its famous 'basket chair room'. The chair is suspended from the ceiling and it has a hole in the bottom so that you can spin your partner around while you lay under her. There are S&M Hello Kitty rooms, Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse too. Address: Osaka, Miyakojima-ku, Nakanomachi 1-12-18, Tel. (06) 6353-3760, near Sakuranomiya Station on the Loop Line.' -- lovehotelinfo.jp
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3. 'For such a sleazy, uninhibited place, Hotel Mickey Cookies has some pretty archaic rules. Apparently, while cheating on your wife/husband is perfectly fine, you can’t get in on your own, in case you decide to kill yourself. (Personally, I’d hope most people would choose a more poignant and poetic location to top themselves than a room full of dildos and Mickey Mouse wallpaper.) Still, strange things can happen in Hotel Mickey Cookies. I once read a story in the newspaper about a couple who found the week-old dead body of a prostitute under the mattress they had just been frolicking on. If anything’s guaranteed to kill a romantic mood, it’s discovering a rotting corpse! Address: Miyagi-ken, Natori-shi, Masuda 642-1. TEL: 022-382-0511.' -- Gaijin Tonic
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4. 'It's Christmas every day at the Little Chapel Christmas in Nihonbashi. This hotel with it cute rooms and less emphasis on sexy decor is part of the trend in which love hotels try to appeal to females who want a romantic night out with their boyfriends. The outside of the building is a thousand times gaudier than the most over the top Christmas light display in North America and there is a piano playing Santa Claus at the entrance. Patrons are given a cute present like a pair of Santa Claus pajamas or a stuffed animal when they enter the room. Address: Osaka, Kita-ku, 11-5 Doyama-cho, Tel. (06) 6365-7750 or Osaka, Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi 1-9-18, Tel. (06) 6212-7322.' -- quirkyjapan.com
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5. 'Osaka's Gang Snowman's is supposed to be one of the wildest love hotel rooms in Japan. The room where I stayed was complete with a prison, jet tub, akasuri massage station, private sauna, pummel horse, bondage coffee table with neck restrains, and TVs in the bedroom, bathroom and tub area. The best part of this hotel is that paying customers are allowed to use the 'Fantastic Garage' on the roof complete with a 70's Cadillac hot tub! There is also a 'multi-position' chair on the roof with wrist and ankle restraints. Gang Snowman's is located near Namba, about 5 minutes walk south of Shitennoji Station on the Tanimachi subway line. A 'Rest' (90 minutes) costs between 3,500 and 5,600 yen on weekdays and 4,200-6300 yen on weekends and holidays. Address: Osaka, Tennoji-ku, Ikutamateramachi 4-4, Tel. (06) 6772-1414.' -- bornplaydie.com
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6. 'Hotel the Rock is a love hotel with an Alcatraz theme. Prison sex. When guests finally figure out that hotel's front door only opens after hand-scanning and enter the beat-up-looking building with mud brown walls and rusty iron doors, they are served by a variety of mobile devices, including a mechanical “warden” who comes down from the second floor to lead you in.
The way from the front desk to the rooms is an adventure in itself, including dark and cold corridors with haunted-house-like effects at every second corner, and an elevator with a glass roof from which black-light paintings inside the elevator shaft are visible, to name but a few. It’s on national route 17 near Takasaki station. Address: Gunma prefecture, Takasaki-Shi, Kamisanomachi 1095-3, Tel (027) 325-6969'. -- tokyo.to
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p.s. Hey. It's cleaning/ exile day at the Recollets again, so I'll just leave it at that hey. ** Jax, Hey. 800 g., three times a day. It took about six days before I felt anything at all, but then, bang, whereupon I was and remain pretty perked, sharp. It's very nice. I guess I recommend it. Obviously, really big luck on the Harlequin thing. Hard copy, weird. You can't fax it? So, if they like the synopsis, that's it, draw up the contract, etc.? ** Shane Le Vein, Lyon, yeah, most likely, it seems. It's in the works at least, or the train trip part is. I guess we already have the tickets, freebies I think, 'cos we're so cool. Apparently, you're cool too what with your offering up those special tickets, thanks. If we come, we'll probably either head back to Paris after the show or get Subsistances to unlock a couple of their rooms for us for the night. In any case, yeah, would love to see you, man, duh. I have a couple of pals there. Jonathan Schatz, co-star of 'TIHYWD' is a Lyonian. Thanks, Shane. ** David Ehrenstein, I think I avoided the novel reading it because of the Bresson film. I read one of the Bernanos books Bresson used, and it seemed all mushy by contrast. But now I think I should read 'JtF'. ** David, Hey, David. Glad to see you back. 'Rubicon' sounds familiar. Art Garfunkle himself pulled off dark and brooding pretty well in that old Roeg film. ** Steevee, The Astbury/ Boris album is pretty uninspired and so-so. Doubt I'll listen to it again. Too samey, mid-tempo, melodically meh. The best track sounds like Astbury singing for Boris, but the rest just sound like some kind of gray middle-ground. Hope your headache has declenched. ** John, When Misanthrope's post wins a Webby Award this year, you're going to kick yourself. Oh, wait, you ... can't. ** Wolf, That big breasts comment had an invisible smiley or winky face emoticon at its conclusion. Anyway, I've had two girlfriends in my life, and, if that qualifies me as having anything close to knowledge, I agree with you. ** Syreearmwellion, Hey. Oh, yeah, my malaises are all pretty existential. Or they've gotten mellower as I've grown up or old or what have you. Usually, I either just write poems when mine show up or look at a lot more porn than usual, and one or both of those treatments usually send the malaise away. Yours are much harder sounding for sure. Oh, man, I hope my novel doesn't let you down. It's a weird one, I think. I like it, though. Anyway, I'm desperate to get it finished so I can read your review. And, you know, thanks for saying that, man. ** _Black_Acrylic, Your take on breasts seems most sensible to me. Well, seeing as how 'The Devil, Probably' is my favorite movie in the whole world and changed my life which then changed my work, the seeming DCness of it is no false presumption. ** JoeM, I'll keep my eye out for a hunky underwear sporting manly slave with a pussycat center for you. Him being into scat is okay though, right? ** JW Veldhoen, Well, you're even pretty shy around me in person, no? Or I'm shy around you and projecting. I do that. I can't explain the beauty of the juxtaposition, but it's there, right? Spontaneous combustion? ** Killer Luka, Okay, I have a new favorite drawing by you now. Holy shit. I'd marry him. Everyone, here's maybe quite possibly the most amazing drawing yet by the great artist who also hangs around here and who is sometimes named Killer Luka. Click that thing. ** You-x, Offbase? No. What's the haps, buddy? ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, She has a Boston accent. Not sure if that comes through when you're a UK person. I know I can't tell English accents apart very well. I do know posh when I hear it, though. Orbital, weird, 'cos I had a rush of fondness for Orbital yesterday too. But for me it was 'In Sides' and selected earlier stuff. The later stuff is a bit harder for me. A VK story, what, what? Not here? What, what? Well, then, wh-wh-wh-ere? ** Bill, Sadly, the scenes in question aren't too provocative. Well, I did trade cheek kisses with one of the boys in one take if it even got used. Oh, I always get the very, very early morning wake up kind of jet lag when I fly to LA. And the 9 pm bedtime if I'm lucky. Does Berkeley still have a couple of really great used bookstores? They used to, but that was, wow, decades ago, I guess. Moe's, for one. ** L@rstonovich, Train book, eh? Okay, maybe. I read 'Wire' and 'Mojo' on train rides, so it would fit right in between. How are you, buddy? ** Ken Baumann, Was Wiseau there when you saw 'The Room'? I was reading somewhere that he sometimes sells merch and does a q&a at the shows. Is 'The Room' his only film? Anyway, yeah, I'll see it next time I'm in the hood if I can at all. Day among days to you, dude. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Yeah, see, now you know what I suffered through for Gisele's art. I think it's awesome that you've never heard a song by The Doors. I think that qualifies you for religious icon status. You wrote the review! I am bowing to you right this second. Your colorful jogging stint almost makes me want to jog. Yury jogs, but at night. He's a demon. He jogs all the way to the Eiffel Tower and back. If you knew how far away that is, you'd either be very impressed or think he's insane. I've had a few facials. They're pretty nice, actually, but the nice part only lasts for about an hour tops, and then the world starts coating your face with its scum again. Hope you got some sleep yesterday/ today eventually. My day: Novel work, went okay, just really slow. The part I'm working on right now needs a lot of help. A lot. I listened to that Astbury/ Boris album, and, like I told Steevee, it isn't so hot, which is unfortunate. Then, like The Dreadful Flying Glove, I went on an Orbital kick for a while and did something while I listened, wrote emails probably, and that was dandy, or the Orbital part was. I met up with Kiddiepunk, Oscar, and Oscar's visiting sister whom I hadn't met before. She's really nice. They don't look all that much alike to me. Just in the area of the eyes, basically. The coffee/ visit was, of course, pleasant. Then I bought cigarettes and some food, and I came back here. It was my dinnertime, so I made dinner: pasta (Capellini) with your basic tomato sauce and shredded cheese and a crumbled tofu thing on top. My sister called, and my dad is going home from the hospital today, and he'll need nurses around all the time now, but the going home part is good. I started sort of planning the upcoming trip to Amsterdam with Kiddiepunk, Oscar, my visiting best friend Joel, and hopefully Yury, if he can get a day off work. We're thinking third week of August for three days. I guess the blog will be on vacation while I'm there, now that I think about it. Yeah, I think that was it pretty much for the day. Not so wildly much of a day, I guess, but onwards, first to your Wednesday and then to mine. So ... ? ** Postitbreakup, My hand's getting better, but I don't think Piracetam is magical enough to have fixed it, but who knows? I think I did Adderall once, I can't remember. So far, the Piracetam is sufficient, I think, and it seems to have no side effects at all. Oh, on your question about 'My Loose Thread', okay, although I realize now how thinking then talking about that stuff is really hard when I'm in p.s. mode. Uh, I'll just throw out a couple of very basic things. When I wrote that novel, people were mostly still using landline phones, and literal phone lines were still the big connective tissue between phones. So, I was thinking about how when you're talking to someone on the phone, what you say only reaches that someone after passing through a wire or rather wires. When they hear you, they ostensibly hear exactly what you said, but in fact what you said was transformed into a high speed, abstract signal inside a wire between the time you spoke and the time they listened, and it was the idea of that forgotten signal/wire and what language and meaning meant or didn't mean when it was in signal form that interested me. So, I wrote 'MLT' thinking about that and imagining the novel was that wire in which a high speed signal was passing because I wanted the novel to connect my ideas to a reader in that particular way as much as possible. Then, I was also really fascinated at the time with two things: Kip Kinkel's confession and the films of Terrence Malick, and I wanted to combine their particular effects in some way because I was really excited by the idea of what that mix would do and what it would sound like. So, going back to the wire/ signal/ phone thing, I did experiments wherein I tried to absorb Kinkel's voice into my voice until I felt like I'd found a voice that was true to his, and I did the same with Malick's voice, specifically the quality and style of his films' amazing internal monologues-cum-voiceovers, but also true to the overall structures, etc. of his films themselves, as best I could. Then I kind of imagined I was Kinkel confessing to Malick on the phone, using the Kinkel-ish voice I'd devised as my 'voice' and Malick's particular interest in wanting to hear and represent people's secret thoughts in a poetic way as my 'ears', as it were. Then I tried to write 'MLT' using the idea that the confession was the novel's beginning and its listener's selective hearing was its ending, with the novel itself as the signal/wire that connected Kinkel's voice to Malick's ears. Which probably doesn't make a lot of sense at all, ha ha, but that was a premise from which I was working re: that novel. The breaks/ sections are partly because of the interest in my work in working with the number five, which seems to me an ideal number to think about re: fiction for some reason, and they're also the signal breaking down in a way. I think talking more about those particular decisions would be too lengthy for the here and now. So, there you go. Thanks for asking, J. ** Catachrestic, Hey. Oh, cool, so, assuming I get to LA circa Halloween as planned, you're game for some spooky, mazey stuff? Very, very best of luck on the LACE gig, of course. The novel is completing itself more steadily again, just way too gradually for my taste. ** Oscar B, Ditto re: your sister, She's very cool. Buzz me when you get back, and I'll go check my email. ** Nb, Yeah, seeing Reubens was reward enough ultimately, sure. I'm just quibbling. Two beds ... like in a hotel room, cool! ** Jeff, Hey, man. ** Sypha, Hey. ** Creative Massacre, I'm doing okay at the moment, thanks. You too, more importantly. So, you have to watch what you eat for a while and stuff, basically? Do you have any fun or interesting late summer plans? ** Tender prey, Hey, Marc. On further inspection, I think all the work is incredible, but, yeah, there's just something especially haunting about 'L'invitation'. Don't know if I could explain why, although maybe you know. Wonderful about the curator's email. I hope it leads afar. Like I said above, the Astbury/ Boris isn't very exciting. Kind of drab, to my ears. A shame since the combo was pretty interesting, and I like Boris a lot, and Astbury's voice has many possibilities. ** Math, Well, but the speaking about it probably does have a big part in turning things around, right? And maybe giving the impression of okayness is a way of hearing yourself be okay via your ability to sound okay. Hm, that sounded better in my head than when it typed out. I just think you're fully on your way to far greater things. I just sense that. And your comments seem to be whistling towards that target whether you know where you've aimed them or not. ** Alan, Hm. The only up to the minute thing I can think of is there's a huge manifestation here today to protest Sarkozy's proposal/ intention to strip any French immigrant of their citizenship and deport them if they 'endanger the lives of police officers' in his words. That's not very exciting news, I guess, but it's the new thing and the talk and the plan for today. Who's your friend? I like him or her already. ** This is where I got exiled. I now begin to finish up an hour later. ** Bollo, Hey. Oh, uh, March is the release date on that book, I think. We have to record the 'Jerk' radio play in English next month, and Stephen O'Malley has to design the package, and that's about it. I met Ryoji Ikeda in Avignon. It turns out he's married to the woman who handles the US touring of Gisele's theater pieces. What a cool guy. Hope your day is fun too. ** Misanthrope, You made it. Man, I don't remember that hex thing at all. I think something got lost in the translation, or I was making an unsuccessful joke. Writing, yes, a must. Get the fuck on that horse, man. I hope you guys hear something from the doctors today. ** Nick Hudson, Pal. You've finished the behemoth slab of genius at last, eh? I'll start wedging the q-tips into my ears post haste to get them all virginal and shit in time for the album's debut. Beautiful day to you as well, man. ** Gotta go. I'm later than late. Until I see you next, please take some Love Hotels, won't you? Bye.
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