Love hotels, nowadays they’re calling them “fashion hotels,” they’re calling them “boutique hotels.” What times are these we’re living in?

We Japanese are generally reputed to be “good at copying,” yet for some reason we seem to exercise the highest level of erotic originality in the world. From sopu “soaplands” (bathhouses) and imekura “image clubs” (costume role-playing) and deriheru “delivery health” (call-a-massage), mainstays of the sex-hire industry, to hi-tech adult toys, to lust-and-violence manga comics and pick-a-girl fuzoku magazines, the Japanese creative spirit would seem to be fixated on things erotic. And of course, there’s interior design’s erotic “true north”, the love hotel.

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