Most people don’t know about the Love Hotel Tokyo trend which is a cultural aspect of Japan. Japanese love hotels are places meant specifically for couples to get some privacy and intimacy. The trend started developing mainly in Tokyo, the capital. These hotels give rooms on rent by the hour to couples who are otherwise starved of privacy and space in the crowded city. Here are some details about these trendy and friendly places.

It was actually the conservative culture of Japan that lead to the establishment of such romantic hotels. Most of the young unmarried people stay with their family and afford to share some private moments in some corner of the streets or stay together in a live-in mode in some undersized, shared apartments.

The love hotels originally started off as tea rooms where lovers and sex-workers used to have their secret liaisons. This idea was tweaked and tuned to cater to the needs of today’s couples and meet their long standing need of privacy and confidentiality. There is no formal check in procedure for these hotels and the staff interactions are minimal keeping the above needs of the patrons in mind. Most places carry out transactions electronically while there are some who have staff sitting behind frosted glass or screens.

Here is an outline of the procedure followed by these places. You first select a room by referring an electric catalogue. Te rooms that are lit up on the display are those that are available. This display looks quite similar to vending machines. Once you select your room and pay for it, you are free to proceed to it in complete privacy. You will typically get rooms on an hourly or short day basis. Some of these places also have an overnight stay option. The rates of these Japanese love hotels depend upon the location of the hotel and the services offered.

Most hotels are located in areas that are well serviced by public transport. This makes them extremely accessible to working professionals and young adults, their target market. In terms of design, hotels are often designed with many different entrances to allow for discretion.

In the Tokyo love hotel circuit you will get cheap hotels which offer a bare minimum; a bed! You can also go for something higher and more upscale places which offer a whole lot of fancy options and services. These can include anything from vibrating beds to themed dcor to mirrored walls and the evergreen option of sex toys to spice things up.

The more traditional Japanese love hotels offer a combination of garish architecture with tackily decorated rooms. These places tend to veer on the lies of fantasia. Many of these hotels were built like castles with crazy neon lighting and other such tacky stuff. They are the popular places around town today. There are also those which have muted the concept of a typical love hotel by disguising them as regular joints. These are usually the more modern establishments.

Despite the nature of their business, these establishments tend to maintain very traditional notions of sexuality. As such, it is difficult for gay couples to book into a room.

So, if ever you have a chance to visit Japan in the future, do book a room for an hour or two in one of these love hotel Tokyo chain of hotels for a change. You will be experiencing the air of youth and puppy love as if you were a teenager.

Eva Libby is an author writing about travel and tourism. Visit Tokyo Vacations to read more.