Love hotels—over-the-top, themed stays in Japan where couples sneak off for a bit of ~privacy~—are the stars of French photographer François Prost’s latest photo book, Love Hotel. While road-tripping from Tokyo to Shikoku in 2023, Prost kept spotting these quirky, colorful buildings and couldn’t look away. Known for capturing nightlife and odd architecture around the world, Prost felt right at home documenting them. We caught up with him to talk about the trip that sparked it all, the stories behind the facades, and what love hotels say about intimacy and hospitality in Japan today.
What initially drew you to the aesthetics of Japan’s love hotels during your road trip?
“The idea for this project was sparked during a trip to Japan last year, where I was invited to present my Gentlemen’s Club series at an exhibition. The gallery suggested that I develop a new project while in Japan, and it felt natural to focus on documenting the facades of love hotels. This followed organically after my previous work exploring the facades of American strip clubs, as well as Ivorian, French, and Spanish nightclubs. Love hotels are a unique and deeply ingrained part of Japanese culture, offering a fascinating glimpse into Japanese society. These venues have a very ‘talkative’ quality visually—they’re expressive in their design, reflecting aspects of local culture, values, and even fantasies.
In many ways, my approach to photographing love hotels mirrors my other projects, which I consider a form of landscape photography. I choose specific types of venues in each country—those with distinct, often kitschy, or roadside architecture—and photograph them across the region with a consistent framing style. This allows me to create a portrait of a country through the lens of its vernacular architecture. I’m drawn to the aesthetic of these places, and how their facades reveal something about the people who inhabit or frequent them.”
“Love hotels are ubiquitous in Japan—estimates suggest anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 across the country. They are designed to appeal to young people, and as such, many have bold, eye-catching architecture. The venues aim to evoke a sense of romance, escape, and fantasy, yet they also need to feel safe and inviting, not tacky or sordid. It’s why some of these places have an almost ‘Disney-like’ aesthetic, playful yet carefully curated. One theme that stood out to me across multiple locations was the recurring use of boat replicas—huge ships, often docked in front of the hotel. I think it’s a way to evoke the sense of cruising into a love paradise, with a subtle nod to Japan’s rich maritime history. For the book that will accompany this series, we’re printing a special poster titled ‘Love Boat,’ showcasing a series of these boat-shaped facades. Similarly, I encountered many hotels with the name ‘Water Gate’—another nautical reference. I also found numerous castle replicas, evoking a sense of fantasy, like something out of a Cinderella story. These were particularly common in the 1960s and 70s, a time when these hotels were first designed and built. There’s a clear connection between these architectural choices and the era in which they were created. The design trends of each era are very much reflected in the structures. Another intriguing aspect of my findings was the use of ‘franponais’—French-inspired names that don’t always have a real meaning but are used for their romantic or sophisticated sound. Interestingly, this phenomenon is something very particular to Japanese culture. And of course, there’s been a shift in the last decade or so. Today, many contemporary love hotels are inspired by ‘Balinese’ aesthetics, with bamboo, natural materials, and tropical motifs. It’s a design language that resonates with younger generations. While these venues are still used primarily for romantic encounters, they’ve also become spots for young people to gather, play karaoke, and party, blurring the lines between love hotels and regular entertainment venues.”
What challenges did you face while photographing these love hotels, especially considering their discreet nature?
“Regarding the pictures, I never encountered any difficulties to take them, I can’t ask for permission as I’m doing a lot of pictures, and this would take too long, so I’m myself a bit discreet… most of the time, there would nobody asking me anything as places looked very calm from outside. I’m sure some staff saw me sometimes, but since I’m quite quick and I only take pictures from outside, nobody came to me asking anything. In some places more renowned for prostitution, there would be some guys in front of the hotel to hook cars, they would see me, but again didn’t tell me anything… As long as you stay discreet and don’t bother people, people let you do your thing.”
Did you enter any of the hotels, or was your focus solely on their façades?
“I didn’t enter in the hotels, as my project concerns only the exteriors. I found documentation of the inside on the internet, which looks interesting, but I only drove my project on the outside. I think the facade gives a lot of understanding of the culture of a country. As facades belong to the public space, they sum up somehow what people are fine to see. Analyzing the different cultural references, names, signs, decorum, and colors gives many keys to understanding the culture of a country, that’s why I think those types of projects are somehow ‘landscape’ photography projects, they show a country through the prism of those facades.”
What do you hope viewers take away from this collection of images?
“I hope viewers are struck by the incredible attention to detail and devotion to design that defines these spaces in Japan. It’s a unique aspect of Japanese culture—the way even the most ordinary, ‘roadside’ venues are crafted with such care and creativity. This project highlights a side of Japan that often goes unnoticed.”
This book is available through Antenne Books and Amazon.
Want to learn more? An exhibition of the project is running from March 20 to May 18, 2025, at The agnès b. Galerie du Jour, Pl. Jean-Michel Basquiat, 75013 Paris, France.
