European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 scene stars and stripes sunday March 252007 travel heaves meet o anything goes at love hotels no privacy paper thin Walls living spaces so crowded that when the music of love is playing everyone hears the rhythm of rapture that the scene in jammed neighbourhoods across Japan Okinawa and South Korea and that makes conditions Ripe for love hotels a Legal and common asian institution where couples rent space for Romance but Hookup hurdles also Are faced by american service members in the Pacific at Kadena air base in Okinawa members of the opposite sex Are banned in Barracks rooms Between Midnight and 6 am at Al 6 air base in South Korea a new policy restricts some soldiers from having Mem Bers of the opposite sex in their rooms at any time and hundreds of Navy sailors live in communal berthing areas on the ship where an overnight guest  fit in their Racks much less sleep Over or stay love hotels Are legion in these privacy challenged countries the 37000 in Japan about million a year said Vitamin Miura a consultant who runs love hotel total research office in Tokyo what separates love hotels from the Hojo or a Hilton besides compelling names like hotel rambo is that you can either rent a room for a rest or stay the night there Are also the amenities bathtubs built for two spacious Beds Fla screen televisions and Karaoke that make rooms l j in i a cheap into a had of people on four Star atmosphere said a i i i it department of defense civil ouf last love hotel Ian in Yokosuka she didst tour most want to figure out How want to be named for fear of professional repercussions she visited the White House in Hayama modelled after the presidents digs she said you know your room by the blinking Light on the door and you pay using a machine in the room ours had a huge aquarium behind the bed Karaoke machine and a huge bathroom she said the Oval office was taken but while service members May Lack room to rendezvous love hotels Arent a Coste Fec Tive answer said airman Patrick Lamping most sailors he knows use a friends House to get intimate he said airman apprentice Andrew Cardwell agreed say ing he has heard How sailors use hotel goddess a love hotel across from Yokosuka naval base with a replica of the statue of Liberty perched atop it As a spot for on night stands this gets pricey if you have too Many he said if you have a Girlfriend great if not theres no reason to be there unless you want to lose your pay Check Cardwell said i have some friends that might As Well hand their Check Over the process works so they can return by Marti Skelly Marine corps Community services tour guide checking it out americans Are so curious about Okinawa route 22 strip of 20 or so love hotels that they arrange private Tours through the bases said Marine corps Community services tour worker Marti Skelly we had 39 people on our last tour Skelly said most want to figure out How the process works so they can return by themselves love hotels Are the epitome of discretion most people will not see anyone while checking in or out nor will a passerby see the customers rooms Are chosen by touch screens and most have their own parking garages with doors that close behind the customer and shield cars from View payment for the room will open the door again Skelly said about five percent of the love hotels on the Island have heated swimming pools in the rooms Many offer adult toys contraception even costumes if ones proclivities tend toward dressing up like say a French maid while almost anything goes at love hotels there Are rules Many hotels will allow Only two people to a room and wont rent to homosexual couples said Kei Sasaki who cleaned rooms in a Kita Kuriyama love hotel for a year and now works at Yokosuka naval base but Many service members have neither stayed in love hotels nor heard of them photos by Megan above the 2001 hotel i aware Okinawa to a Odyssey cars pull into the rooms on the right and Are shrouded by the Sheet left a statue of a Sanuki a Sake drinking Raccoon who carries a notebook that lists his debts to liquor stores welcomes guests to another love hotel in aware service members in South Korea Are required to be on base by Midnight on weekdays and 1 am week ends this limits love hotel excursions to those on leave passes or temporary lodging in hearing about love hotels Camp red Cloud Soldier pfc Aaron Gilmore 20 found the idea of an elaborately themed love hotel interesting but he said its probably not for him since he and his Girlfriend have decided not to have sex before marriage pc Dan Kear 21 once stayed with a few Bud Dies at a decidedly Lawrent hotel but he want sure if it qualified As a love hotel he didst remember much about the place Only that when he woke up he saw the biggest shelf of pornographic material Ive Ever seen because they look Normal from the outside Ameri cans May unwittingly walk into love hotels said Sasaki i saw this american couple come through the doors with a ton of Luggage they were Back out on the Street in a few minutes after they realized what happened Sasaki said pleasure principle experienced or not most americans find love hotels compelling As a cultural phenomenon and a viable place to get away for a few hours in theory i think there great id rather have sailors in a room somewhere than doing something illegal on the Street said chief Petty officer Jason Mcglasson still Lamping is sticking with a regular bed and neither army staff sgt Sam Norris nor his wife Cece Lia in Okinawa have any need for love hotels they said we have our own at Home Cecelia said and you can quote us on that Sam chimed in stars and stripes reporters Megan Mccloskey Erik Slavin Tim Flack and Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report