“It was definitely a really unique experience”
16:05, 08 Sep 2025Updated 16:08, 08 Sep 2025
An urban explorer discovered an abandoned love hotel in the middle of the Japanese countryside- left untouched for 20 years
An urban explorer from Bury has discovered an abandoned Japanese sex hotel during one of his trips. Luke Bradburn, 29, found the establishment that hasn’t been used for 20 years in southern Japan.
Japanese love hotels offer private rooms for hourly or overnight use and are designed for couples looking for a discreet and intimate place. While many are still in operation today, their popularity has waned significantly from their peak in the 80s and 90s.
Luke travelled to Japan in early 2024 to document the Fukushima exclusion zone and ended his trip in Aichi Prefecture to explore the abandoned hotel.
The four-storey building has remained untouched since its closure in the early 2000s, due to declining business in the area.
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Inside the building, each room had its own distinctive theme, offering wildly different experiences – from spaceship-style beds to clam-shaped baths to a full boxing ring.
Luke said: “It was definitely a really unique experience. It’s such a big building. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were up to 30 rooms across the whole thing.
“Walking in was so strange, seeing it completely preserved. They even still had all the menus up for when people would arrive and choose their themed room.”
Luke first learned about the hotel on social media.
Luke first learned about the hotel after seeing pictures of the interior posted on social media.
However, due to its rural location, it was difficult to find. After scanning the surrounding area on Google Maps, Luke eventually located the hotel and mapped a course.
He said: “It’s so rural and went out of business over two decades ago, so it’s just faded into the background after a while.
“I also discovered that it closed in the early 2000s because the local population had aged, so there weren’t as many young people around.
“This meant fewer guests and the hotel shut down due to lack of business.”
Luke found the abandoned love hotel in southern Japan
Inside the building, each room had its own distinctive theme from spaceship-style beds to clam-shaped baths to a full boxing ring.
Footage from inside also showed sex toys left untouched for decades, with all rooms still equipped with beds and baths or jacuzzis.
Luke said: “I wasn’t even expecting there to be that much left of everything.
“It was interesting to see some of the set-ups left behind.
“These included clam-shaped baths, beds made to look like a UFO or a carousel and bondage apparatus with a big red star on it.
“Definitely the room with the star that felt very Soviet Union to me was the strangest.”
AloJapan.com