Undercover Love Hotels

[Mulboyne]

Police in Hyogo prefecture have recently been cracking down on lodgings which advertise themselves as business hotels or ryokan but which are, in practice, love hotels. The picture above shows a raid this morning in Akashi on a place called "Joy". Of course there's nothing a hotel can do to prevent its guests having sex but the legal definition of a love hotel is quite strict. What gave "Joy" away were the vending machines for sex toys and the touch-panel room booking system in the reception lobby which require a love hotel licence. Police believe there could be as many as 172 other unlicensed love hotels operating in the prefecture and intend to continue the crackdown.

Useless trivia of the day: Bruce Lee's old house in Hong Kong was used as a love hotel after he died. It was announced last week that it will be sold and funds donated to help Sichuan earthquake survivors.

[IkemenTommy]

Wouldn't the name of that hotel be a dead give-away?

[MudDiver]

depends with whom you checked in with.

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Police clamp down on illegal love hotels in Kanto

Police are cracking down on illegal love hotels, with two men arrested in Kanagawa Prefecture and documents sent to prosecutors on another 12 in Kanagawa and Tokyo. Managers of Hotel Carib in Yokohama's Asahi Ward, Katsunori Nonaka and Naoya Hashimoto, both 38, were arrested under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses for running a love hotel in a prohibited area. The fixtures at the hotel, which is run under a business hotel license, led police to deem the building a love hotel. Documents on 12 staff from nine love hotels disguised as ordinary hotels have also been sent to prosecutors on the same charge. Police say that the nine hotels were not reported to local public safety commissions as required by law. There are at least 3,593 love hotels disguised as ordinary hotels across the country, according to a 2008 investigation by the National Policy Agency, including in areas around elementary schools, prompting protests from those living nearby.