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From Reuters
By Eriko Amaha
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's secretive love hotels are opening up to European investors as one player in the sector prepares for a debut on London's stock market this month.
Japan Leisure Hotels, which owns five love hotels worth some 21 million pounds ($43.68 million) in Japan, hopes to lure investors to its IPO with an 8 percent dividend and promises of fast growth -- shedding light on a sector that is often associated with sleaze and organized crime.
Tango’s Take
We ran a Dish on August 31, 2007 about Japanese ‘Love Hotels.’ [2] The essence of that article was that they’re not just for boning it any more. Japanese are using them as confessional booths / therapy. Isn’t that what everyone says about prostitutes? “No, no, I just pay them to listen, man. You know, really listen. No one, mmm, listens anymore. And then let me do coke off their hip bone.” Love Hotels are probably a pretty good investment. There are a few industries, such as the narcotics trade, prostitution, gambling, weapons manufacturing, that have been good investments as long humans have been around.