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Sep 22 2023 13 Comments

The fantastically dated hotels of a few Japanese coastal towns

In the previous post I put together a series of faded scenes from a few coastal towns not far from Tokyo, so as a small addition to that, below are some of the similarly dated hotels from the same trip. A couple of them I stayed in (photos 1-4 & 10), and the others I simply found interesting.

It’s the kind of accommodation that is perhaps surprisingly still plentiful outside Japan’s bigger cities and tourist hubs. Places to stay that may lack the comfort and sometimes even cleanliness of their modern cousins, but they invariably make up for that in character and retro charm.

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

old and dated Japanese hotels

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Denise says

    9/22/2023 at 10:13 am

    Oh my the (70s?) control panel!?! 😮

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/22/2023 at 9:03 pm

      Yes, that really was something. Amazingly it still works too. Or at least some of it does anyway. A real blast from the past.

      Reply
  2. Arno says

    9/22/2023 at 5:17 pm

    How do you find these places ?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/22/2023 at 9:04 pm

      Lots of walking, and when it comes to finding somewhere to stay, lots of searching on Google Maps.

      Reply
  3. cdilla says

    9/22/2023 at 7:29 pm

    A great complimentary set to your earlier post.
    Although clean, the sky blue and mustard bathroom colour scheme has definitely passed its sell-by date. At first glance those tiles looked like a Mandelbrot design.
    Love the wifi hardware in number 4, with an attendant extinguisher in the background.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/22/2023 at 9:09 pm

      Thank a lot.

      Yeah, that bathroom was something else. Never seen one quite like that before. And I felt the same about the comical WiFi setup. They made an effort, and at the same time they really didn’t.

      Reply
  4. Richard says

    9/22/2023 at 7:55 pm

    The bathroom tile is amazing! These remind me of places I would stay in the 1970’s. Thanks so much for sharing them.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/22/2023 at 9:12 pm

      Couldn’t agree more about the bathroom. They sure don’t make them like that anymore.

      You are very welcome. Always incredibly interesting to seek out and stay in such places.

      Reply
  5. Evan says

    9/23/2023 at 12:51 am

    Very fun! Thanks as always for sharing Lee.

    Is that a pneumatic tube behind the TV, and if so, what might be transmitted through it to and from guest rooms?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/23/2023 at 8:43 pm

      Thanks a lot, and you are very welcome. Experiencing these kinds of places is always a treat.

      It is. Not a common find to say the least. Can’t say for certain, but very likely it was originally a love hotel, and that form of communication would have allowed for more privacy.

      Reply
  6. john says

    9/25/2023 at 10:50 am

    The decorative houseplant and ‘leaf pattern carpet’ got me wondering (inside??) and then I saw the pool photo.
    Thanks for that!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/26/2023 at 8:52 am

      My pleasure. Had to include that long unused pool shot. Don’t get to see many of those.

      Reply
  7. Andrew H says

    10/6/2023 at 10:44 am

    Oh my. I’m packing my suitcase!

    Reply

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