Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan

Misty Keasler

Chronicle Books, Nov 30, 2006 - Photography - 156 pages

Sex creates odd cultural conventions everywhere, but nowhere has an institution quite like the Japanese love hotel. To be rented by the hour for amorous liaisons, the theme rooms revealed in this provocative collection of photographs are steeped in fantasy, their elaborate dcor ranging from simulated subway cars to religious bondage with much kink in between. These brash rooms are fascinating in themselves, but also present a window into a very classified aspect of this society. The foreword by best-selling author Natsuo Kirino and passages from hotel guest books lend humor and context to these 80 haunting room portraits, creating an astonishing document of sex and romance, public and private space in Japan.

What people are saying

Review: Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan

User Review  - Teddie - Goodreads

I gave this book a 4 because of the photos. But for a few pages of text it really does not tell you anything. It left me wanting to know more.

Review: Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan

User Review  - Konrad Pociask - Goodreads

Book is seriously overpriced. Photos of love hotels way past their prime. Only part worth seeing is the middle "Our Resume" section which includes interesting profiles and feedback from people who have visited the hotel. That was funny. The rest was a joke...

Contents

• Section 1: 1973
• Section 2: 1974
• Section 3: 1975
• Section 4: 1977
• Section 5: 1978
• Section 6: 1979
• Section 7: 1980
• Section 8: 1981

About the author

Misty Keasler regularly contributes to Texas Monthly and Dwell magazine. She lives in Dallas.

Natsuo Kirino is the author of Out, which was a recipient of the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction in Japan and one of its major literary awards, the Naoki Prize. She lives in Tokyo.

Rod Slemmons is director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan
• Author: Misty Keasler
• Photographs by: Misty Keasler
• author of text accompanying photos: Rod Slemmons
• Contributors: Rod Slemmons, Natsuo Kirino
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2006
• ISBN: 0811856410, 9780811856416
• Length: 156 pages
• Subjects: Photography / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions / General; Photography / Photoessays & Documentaries