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Don’t Make Eye-Contact

Love hotels in Japan are a place to spend the night and they are also there for, well, love-ing. If you are a bit shy and don’t want to obtain your room and be judged at the same time, you have nothing to worry about. Love hotels are usually completely anonymous. The staff hide behind closed doors and payment is made by putting cash through a slot at a booth, where the glass is painted over or frosted so no one can see through it. Or, you put your money in a tube and it gets sucked away to another room. The latter is a bit more exciting.

Choose a Good Room

The beauty of love hotels is that they tend to be thematic. There’s basically something for everyone. Want to imagine you’re in a medieval castle? That you’re spending the night in Cupid’s love basket? (not a euphemism) Or that you’re staying in a room inspired by the look of A Clockwork Orange? It’s all here in Japan. Usually all you need to do is push a button identifying which room you want. Sort of like a vending machine for hotel rooms.

Save Some Extra Spending Money

A love hotel will provide you with a large room, a huge bathroom, and all sorts of extras. There’s usually a TV set with access to pornography, for those of you interested in pixelated porn, and often game systems for before or after the use of the rest of the facilities. Giving the notorious small size of typical business hotels in Japan, you would assume that you’d be paying a lot of yen for this special experience of staying in a love hotel. In fact, love hotels tend to be cheaper than regular hotels, despite the size difference and amenities. That money you’re saving on accommodation could go to the rest of your trip, or you could purchase one of the exciting products that tend to be on sale in each room. These products are designed to help you make the most out of your experience in the love hotel, and payment is either through a vending machine or through one of the pneumatic tube systems.

Plan Ahead

Image via Wikipedia

You can’t reserve love hotel rooms, and if you’re a weary traveler looking for cheap accommodation, overnight stays tend to only become available at night, usually after 10 pm. If you’re after a love hotel for non-overnight-accommodation reasons, then you can usually find a room during the day or evening for a couple of hours at a set rate. Though this tends to only happen in more rural parts of Japan, be aware too that if you are not obviously Asian, you could be refused entry by unseen clerks who will not accept your money and will instead ask you to leave by speaker. And how embarrassing would that be?

Related articles: http://trifter.com/asia-pacific/japan/tips-for-enjoying-a-visit-to-a-penis-shrine/