goo Ranking recently performed a survey looking at what love hotel names people find strange. Love hotels can be found all over Japan, and as the name suggests, they are for use by dating couples wanting a place away from their parents, couples wanting a night out, or indeed for illicit relationships; I should try to dig up figures on the sorts of uses they get put to.

Demographics

The survey was conducted between the 4th and 8th of October 2013 where 1,074 people completed a private web-based questionnaire. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

I’ve stayed here:

The video below is of room 310 at the Feigning Ignorance Beaver Legend, although there is a distinct lack of feigning or otherwise ignorant beavers on display…

Googling the Japanese names should bring up more information about the places, should a name take your fancy. Note that all the translations are mine so may differ from their real English name, if they have one.



Research results

Q: Which of these love hotel names do you find strange? (Sample size=1,074) Rank 日本語 English Score 1 ホテル ゴリラの夢 Hotel Gorilla Dreams 100 2 と、いうわけで。 And This Is Why. 99.7 3 ホテルだぞぉ～ It’s A Hotel 88.4 4 ホテル王将 Hotel King 80.4 5 おとぼけビーバー伝説 The Feigning Ignorance Beaver Legend 70.4 6 ホテル いちねんいちくみ Hotel Primary One, Class One 70.1 7 オラオラ Ola Ola (also a call from the animation “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”) 59.8 8 ホテルべんきょう部屋 Hotel Study Room 55.6 9 あひるのともだち Duck Friends (no, not a misspelling!) 54.3 10 ホテル バナナとドーナツ Hotel Banana And Doughnuts 52.7 11 ホテル妖精が忘れた緑の時間 Hotel Forgotton By Fairies Greenery Time 46.9 12 ホテル さりげなく！ Hotel Casually! 46.6 13 つれてって～ Take Me There… 46.3 14 ポニーテールは風にゆれて Ponytails Blowing In The Wind 43.4 15 キティーネ・ヨッテーネ Kitty-ne Yotte-ne 43.1 16 ホテルちょっと Hotel A Little 42.1 17 ホテル松屋 Hotel Matsuya (not sure why this is strange!) 40.2 18 ぼくんち My Place 38.9 19 このゆびと～まれ This Finger Stops Here 37.6 20 いつものところ The Usual Place 35.7 21 フェスタリゾート野猿 Festival Resort Wild Monkeys 33.4 22 どんと恋 Plenty Of Love 32.2 23 きまぐれポニーテール Whimsical Ponytail 31.2 24 ホテル南の風 風力3 Hotel Southern Wind, Wind Force 3 28.3 25 おしゃれ貴族 The Elegant Aristocrat 28.0 26 やんちゃ貴族 The Naughty Aristocrat 27.3 27 きまぐれ貴族 The Whimsical Aristocrat 24.4 28= くちなし城 桃源郷 The Castle With No Entrance, Shangri-la 19.0 28= ときめき貴族 The Throbbing Aristocrat 19.0 30 ホテル ねこのきまぐれ Hotel Whimsical Cat 17.4