That Time Nintendo Opened Many Love Hotels

For many decades now, Nintendo has been a family friendly company with a focus on creating smiles and having fun. Ever since they got into the video game business, this philosophy has only multiplied. However, before they got into toys and video games, Nintendo dabbled in some other things like trading cards, taxi firms, and… love hotels.

Well, this is that time Nintendo opened many love hotels.

For those unfamiliar, Love Hotels, often abbreviated as ラブホ (rabuho) in Japanese, are short-stay “hotels” where people can literally pay significantly less for exactly the amount of time they need. In theory, this is great for people who simply want to sleep somewhere while on vacation and don’t want to commit to multiple days at an expensive hotel.

But Love Hotels are infamous for a very obvious reason. As the name implies, Love Hotels are mostly geared towards people who want to rent a room out for an hour or two for sexual pleasure. These hotels have become common locations for cheating spouses, young people wanting to lose their virginity without their parents knowing, and even prostitution among other reasons.

Love Hotels are usually themed as well, giving their patrons the ability to role play in a room dawned in underwater, Arabian, or anime decorations to spice things up. There are hundreds and hundreds of these hotels littered throughout the country, some right by small towns and residential areas while others are jam-packed in major districts like Shibuya.

Until the 1960s, Nintendo tried their hand in many ventures, and one such venture happened to be opening and running many Love Hotels throughout Kyoto, Japan. This was not odd at all for the company at this time, as they had expanded outside of their card printing business multiple times en route to becoming the successful company they are today.

Surprisingly, there is not a whole lot more information about the hotels Nintendo ran, but we do have basic record of their business dwellings back then in this area.

Just remember that for a stretch of time, Nintendo was definitely not family friendly, and they needed some patrons to frequent their Love Hotels in order for their business to thrive. Based on Nintendo’s CSR Report 2021, the company has come a long, long way since before the 1960s. From gangster activity, sexy play cards, and Love Hotels to toys and video games, Nintendo sure does have a wide and interesting history.

Oh. Did I say gangster activity? Well, we will talk about that another time!

---

Thank you for stopping by Nintendo Link and enjoying this “That Time” article. What do you think of Nintendo owning these hotels? Are you surprised? Not at all? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Happy gaming, everyone.