While Japan’s thousands of love hotels welcome millions of heterosexual couples in search of the privacy and intimacy denied them at home, gay couples say they are routinely turned away.ĭespite rising awareness of LGBT rights, Japan is the only G7 country that does not recognise same-sex marriages, and much of the country’s multibillion-dollar love hotel industry accepts only heterosexual couples. He and his partner, who are in a civil partnership recognised by the local government, are not alone. “We were being treated like second-class citizens.” “It was a clear case of discrimination,” the man, who has not been named, told the newspaper. “Gay men don’t use the facilities properly,” the female receptionist reportedly told them, without explanation.
But this time the language was overtly homophobic. “He just said men aren’t allowed.” An attempt to find a room at another love hotel nearby also ended in disappointment. “The receptionist was very polite,” one of the men told the Kobe Shimbun.
