[/floatl]This is Kim Ikkyon who has been popping up a lot in articles about love hotels. She wrote an undergraduation thesis on the industry while at university in Kobe. She had planned to go on to work with a hotel magazine but her thesis was well-received so she continued her academic work and is now in the last stages of her postgraduate studies. ZakZak (Japanese) calls her "Japan's leading love hotel researcher" and, last month, Bungei Shunju published her work. "The Evolution of the Love Hotel", based on visits to over 300 establishments as well as interviews with management and customers, outlines the history of love hotels and even including details like the introduction of the sukebe isu (erotic sex chair). Kim says that she has never used a love hotel for it's primary function herself since she is too busy with study and part-time restaurant work and always makes sure to get home before 10:30pm because her family is strict. She also says that her first boyfriend lived on his own so there was no need to spend money to get some privacy. Always a diligent student, she admits that her specialist subject doesn't seem like the most obvious one for her to pursue. It seems that the turning point was when she picked up a magazine advertising love hotels. She had always associated such places with delinquent girls. adulterous affairs and grisly murder cases and was suprised how bright and attractive the hotels seemed. She describes it as a real culture shock to discover how different their advertised image was from how own ideas. Kim says that when word got around about her studies her reputation suffered somewhat and some unsavoury types would accost her to ask for her best recommendations. She didn't get a warm welcome either from love hotel managers who were suspicious of a girl taking photographs of their business during daytime. Eventually, though, through persistence and politeness, she managed to convince them she was serious and they began to tell her more about their operations. She tells ZakZak that she wouldn't mind trying out a love hotel with a husband in the future but says that it would have to be somewhere other than Osaka because all the reception staff know what she looks like now which would be a little embarrassing.
