In any town bigger than a hamlet, you are sure to find a patch of gaudy hotels styled after rococo palaces, Grecian temples, even rocket ships. Some sport a miniature Statue of Liberty on the roof, others lurid neon signs.
These are, of course, Ja pan's ubiquitous love hotels, where couples engage in passions of the flesh.
Some Westerners may find such enterprises morally offensive, but in the past few decades they have become a natural part of the urban landscape, growing into a market difficult to ignore.