ラブホテル・Love Hotel

In any Japanese town, you can find at least one “Love Hotel.” Given the lack of space and multi-generational living situations, these rent-by-the-hour hotels are a necessity in this country.
As we were walking from Nanba station to the Thai restaurant where we were having dinner, Sa and I had to cross through the Love Hotel Section of town. I have always seen Love Hotels on the outskirts of town, near freeway interchanges, so this was really interesting to me. A whole section of Love Hotels right smack-dab in the middle of the city.
Most are completely outlandish with various themes. Sa was telling me that love hotels have changed radically in the past ten years. It used to be that you had to bring your own food since there was no type of food service (despite the fact that all the rooms were equipped with karaoke.) Nowadays, breakfast is often included, and you can even get dinner sets. However, I still think the themes that they come with are great.



My favorite Japanese joke
ラブホテル10回言って。(Love Hotel 10-kai yutte. Say Love Hotel 10 times.)
You repeat this line several times. You can change how many times you ask your friend to say it, etc. Finally, you say:
何回行った? (Nan kai itta?) (How many times did you say/go?)
The joke here is that “itta” has two meanings: “did you say” or “did you go.” (So your friend says “25” or something like that, and you say, “Wow, that’s a lot!” Despite changing the form of the verb “to say,” I have never had anyone NOT fall for this joke. Including last Saturday night. Yes, I can still pretend that I am a Japanese high school student. Actually, I still do have the uniform. Maybe I should break it out....