I've been gallivanting all over the Japanese countryside looking for the wildest hotels for Bizarre magazine...which is incidentally celebrating its 10th birthday…yay to the world’s biggest subculture magazine!

“Love” hotels are pay-per-hour hotels, where you can choose to stay overnight or "rest" for three hours, though it's necessary that you check in with a partner. Almost a national institution of sorts where houses are so close together, you can see straight into the neighbor’s bedroom window, and walls are often made of a strange and useless paper-like substance, the hotels are utilized by all walks of life who want some privacy.

So far I’ve checked out ones where the exterior looks like a luxury cruiser, a UFO, and a castle, and suites are decked out with full-sized personal swimming pools, and plasma TVs in the bath.

Unsurprisingly, the weirdest are in Osaka; “Gangsnowman” is a showcase of pure decadence, rooms are gratuitously adorned with cages, and rooftop jacuzzis in the shape of Cadillacs vibrate as you fuck.

“Adonis,” also in Osaka, houses at least 20 rooms of brilliant kitsch. Aside from the obligatory anime cosplay rooms, dizzyingly mirrored Japanese style bondage dens, and the school-room fantasy suites, the famed Hello Kitty SM dungeon has to be seen to be believed.

Whilst disgustingly cute and pink, Kitty takes a stygian tone and is caged and tied up, whilst the pink piano in the corner comes with pink manacles, to facilitate restraining your partner and singing karaoke into his/her ear.

Having said that, if you are in Japan and need an inexpensive place to stay, check them out—they are meticulously clean for the most part and provide a fun, escapist atmosphere for around the same price as a generic business hotel.