A teal-coloured castle, a lifelike whale and a giant blue ship are just some of the unique buildings dotted along stretches of Japanese motorway.
These architectural marvels are known as love hotels – and in Japan, they’re visited by an estimated 500 million people each year.
It’s not hard to hazard a guess at what they’re used for: sex.
The name originally comes from the ‘Hotel Love’ in Osaka, which was designed to give privacy to lovers wanting to enjoy quality time together.
So, what are the identifying factors of a love hotel? The exterior is typically decorated with love hearts – and, as we’ve seen, they’re often rather garish.
It’s not just the architecture though: there are other telltale signs of a love hotel, namely the lack of windows and the advertised pricings.
While general hotels typically only advertise one price, love hotels will have a cheaper rate for a ‘rest’ (AKA, possible shag) during the day and a higher one for a full overnight stay.
These rates aren’t necessarily universal, but one price list for an institution in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo indicates that rest rates are around 2,800¥ (£14.42), while going the whole hog comes with a cost of between 9,000¥ (£46.36) and 12,000¥ (£61.81).
As with many things in Japan, checking in at the hotel is relatively simple – and advance reservations aren’t accepted. It’s good to be spontaneous, after all.
Interactions with staff are relatively limited to respect the innate privacy element of love hotels, and if you want to check in, you can do so with just the click of a button.
There’s typically a vending machine-style of payment, but more old-fashioned institutions might use a system like paying a staff member covered by a pane of frosted glass.
Inside, there are often an array of kinky interiors – including ceiling mirrors (we all know what those are for), and sometimes S&M gear. And for an added element of fun, karaoke machines aren’t too uncommon – just like in that famous scene in Lost In Translation.
Where did it all start though? The story behind love hotels begins in the Edo period (1603-1868), when discreet-looking establishments started to pop up in both Edo and Kyoto.
Masquerading as teahouses, these early versions had the same discreet entry processes still seen today and were most often used by sex workers and their clients.
Fast forward to the twentieth century and it was the boom of motels that changed everything, popularising the idea of the private space offered by the love hotel. By 1961, there were 2,700 in the centre of Tokyo, many of which were infamous for their gaudy exteriors.
But love hotels increasingly weren’t just a space used by the sex industry or by people wanting to have illicit affairs.
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As many houses popular at the time were relatively close-knit, with sleeping areas being used as living rooms and suchlike during the day, many married couples were left with little alone time – and so the love hotel increasingly began to appeal.
From the 1980s onwards though, the garish features started to be downplayed.
By 1984, an act was passed that placed these hotels under police control – but it simply meant that those looking to build new ones avoided building them in a similar style in the hope that they wouldn’t be labelled as a love hotel and, thus, subjected to a watchful eye.
So, if you’re ever travelling around Japan and stop to take a picture of what looks like a unique architectural build, be discreet: you might just be photographing a love hotel.
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