Recession Proof: The Love Hotel

If there are any lessons to be learned from the recent economic downturn it’s that free markets don’t always act rationally and Japanese people like sex, a lot. Despite facing the worst economic recession in their post war history, Japan’s love hotel industry continues to thrive, posting growth this fiscal year capping off a decade long trend. People are forgoing Blu-ray players, vacations, and placenta drinks, for a primal romp in one of Japan’s 25,000 love hotels. How good is business? Experts estimate that the love hotel industry takes in an estimated $40 billion annually, numbers unheard of in a contracting economy. One hotel in particular, the Bonita Hotel in Isawa, boasts a 257 percent occupancy rate. No, they weren’t throwing in two and a half couples into every room (kinky), rather rooms themselves were being used 2.5 times a day as love hotels offer the option of booking a room for a 3 hour “rest” period. On a side note, it’s pretty gross considering that with so much daily traffic the beds could potentially still be warm, or even worse, moist by the time you get in for a vigorous “resting”.

However, it must be noted that the entirety of the sex industry is not recession proof, as evidenced by the recent decline of attendance at brothels in Europe. Love hotels are resilient despite the economic climate because they offer a necessity that is hard to come by in Japan: privacy. Whereas prostitution can get written off as a luxury with a simple flick of the wrist, couples need time alone in order to be intimate. Youtube “Japan Yamanote line rush hour” and you will get a sense of how incredibly dense the country is. Even smaller urban areas, cities that have only two Starbucks’, are still very crowded. As a result couples are afforded very little ‘alone time’, so little that I have heard stories of desperate (intelligent) couples sneaking a freaking on crowded trains. As a result, all of those quiet dinners, strolls through the park, film outings, basically all the standard dating activities premised on intimacy, will be interrupted by the other one hundred couples that had the same plans and the other three hundred people who just happened to be there as well.

You might ask yourself why more couples wouldn’t just stay in for a romantic evening at home, which of course some do. But cultural practices are very different in Japan: children generally do not leave their parents’ home until they get married, especially if they are female; men on the other hand are more likely to venture out in pursuit of a career. In fact, of all the unmarried women that I have come to learn the intimate details of their living situations, only two had moved out of their parents’ home.

In light of such cultural practices, love hotels fulfill the needs of Japan’s unmarried couples. Consider that early stage in any relationship that rests on the cusp of desire, where passions run high enough to run the whole 9 but where there still exists a lack of comfort in more formal settings such as family gatherings. Bringing someone home to meet the parents at that stage would only cause more headaches than they would relieve: women that bring men home will be perceived as ‘loose’, men bringing women home will be dogged by questions of commitment, and parents will be given the false hopes of grandchildren. The risks in these situations might not outweigh the benefits. Thus, in order to forego the logistical problems of family introductions, couples will just venture into a love hotel. It’s easy, it’s cheap and, most importantly, it’s private.

Sex will always prove to be a lucrative business. But unlike other sexual activities that are considered luxuries such as frequenting brothels, strip clubs, or soaplands, sex in a relationship will always be a necessity, a demand that love hotels fulfill. But more than just sex, love hotels afford intimacy and private time, things that are extremely hard to come by in a country crowded enough to have capsule hotels. Try having sex in one of those.