Hotel Eden

This abandoned " Rabu Hoteru", love hotel, is on Route 9 just outside Yamaguchi City. For anyone who doesn't know about love hotels I recommend a brand new book by Ed Jacob, Love Hotels: An inside look at Japan's sexual playground. At $10 to download a pdf it's certainly affordable.

Obviously, for someone at least, "Eden" is located in the Mediterranean (or a Mexican shanty town).

In my area all the love hotels are located outside of the towns, and while a few are painted a bright color to make them visible, many are simple, innocuous, drab places composed of individual "cabins" more akin to motels. There are none of the outrageous architectural palaces that one sees in the cities.

Like most Japanese construction, they are cheaply built, and combined with japan's humidty and precipitation it doesn't take long for buildings to become derelict and decompose.

The sign tells that the room is temporarily unavailable due to it being cleaned and prepared for the next customers.