[Wired] Fantasy Love Hotels

For decades Japan’s love hotels have provided a place for couples to enjoy anonymous, uninterrupted sex. Politician and secretary, teacher and student, husband and hooker — all are welcome, as long as they pay in cash and leave when the time limit is up. But 2006 spawned a new type of love hotel. Decorated with theme park interiors and equipped with game consoles, karaoke boxes and sex machines — these establishments provide kinky fun for all types, from fetishists and sadomasochists to the ordinary couple seeking sexual adventure.

In her new book, Love Hotels, American photographer Misty Keasler portrays some of the newest, most creative love hotels in Japan.

I think bondage and S&M are complete turn offs; it’s kinda creepy, sick, and it’s just…too excessive. What ever happened to good old missionary sex? Are you that bad in bed that you need props to create excitement? Or maybe it’s just a personality thing. And most ironic of all, these “love hotels” are found in a country where its people are stereotyped to be quiet and polite. Anyways, here’s one of the rooms. Isn’t that just…disturbing?

You can’t fondle a child riding a pony at a real carnival, but in the Carousel Room, anything goes. Pedophiles can live out their fantasies in this private chamber without the fear of arrest or being accosted. And if they can’t coax a real child into some merry-go-round fun, they can just stare at the images of the gleeful toddlers on the wall while they masturbate.