A milestone in Japan: motels are being converted into funeral homes (6 photos)

The thing is that the rise of love motels in Japan coincided with the rise in the birth rate in the country. It was a “completely different Japan” then.





Guess which is a bureau and which is a love hotel. It’s hard to tell the difference the first time…

The famous love motels in Japan appeared in the late 1960s and flourished during the country’s economic peak, known as the “bubble” era of the 1980s. Between 1971 and 1974, the annual number of births exceeded two million (last year, 720 thousand children were born).



Japanese love hotel. Looks like a candy store, I would go in and look like a fool...

It was then that Japan earned itself the image of a well-fed and technologically advanced country, now technology has slowed down a bit and the palm of primacy has long been lost.





A love hotel usually has a wild, noticeable design so that a couple will notice it from afar

But then the Japanese were at the peak of their enthusiasm, and love hotels had no shortage of customers. Since it was necessary to provide services to all segments of the population, there were many hotels in each area: more expensive, simpler, with a tasteless wild design or unremarkable classics.

I already made a post about pretentious love hotels, where people go to have fun. For example, a love hotel - a spaceship-saucer or a love hotel in the spirit of Alice in Wonderland (the Japanese love the aesthetics of the crazy Rabbit Hole).

But those children were born, grew up ... and their grandchildren no longer need so many love nests - and there is no one with, and no money, and no time.



Okay, don't suffer - the funeral home is below

In modern Japan, there is a decline in the number of places of "privacy and comfort". And what should the owners do? Reprofile.

Would you go to such a place for a funeral?

Can you imagine the irony of going to a place that was the nest of your first "adult" date to have your spouse buried? For some reason, the Japanese find this idea incredibly funny. Although, of course, the prim old men are more likely to be frightened by the knowledge of the funeral home's past.



The beds were taken out and replaced with chairs, turning the rooms into farewell halls

A once-bright hotel in Saitama Prefecture in eastern Japan has become a funeral home, and before and after photos have been published. The rebranding was serious, but funny.

The juxtaposition of these two then and now photos is one of the most powerful symbols of the current social issues and era the country is living through. Along with the end of millennial festivals due to a lack of strong men. Japan's elderly population has grown to a record 36.25 million, with people aged 65 and over making up 29.3 percent of the population.



A love hotel with a space racing car bed. What a Japan we are losing!

The birth rate in Japan is falling year after year and there is no jump out of the demographic hole yet.

It's a little sad to look at this photo. And at the same time, time flows mercilessly and inevitably.