Love Hotels – Kyoichi Tsuzuki
Love Hotels – Kyoichi Tsuzuki / small 448-page paperback with jacket, 4.5 x 5.9 inches, published by Seigensha in 2024 / text in Japanese with English summaries at the end; illustrated throughout / ISBN 9784861529252
An odyssey of confounding and probably cursed lodgings
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The Japanese love hotels of the 20th century were typified by garish, over-the-top, bizarre designs and features. Due to stricter laws and morality codes, the 2000s were an era when the notorious love hotels, along with their unique retro charm, were rapidly vanishing from the Japanese cityscape. Kyoichi Tsuzuki explores the fascination of this lingering cultural heritage through a selection of carefully chosen and photographed rooms, guiding the curious through the highly inventive and playful interiors of this titillating typology.