At 6:30 p.m. on a Friday, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" fills the lobby of the Hotel Mario outside Tokyo. A couple scans a board showing photos of the 50 rooms, which can be rented for a few hours. Only three are left.
Japan's 25,000 love hotels are making money even as companies such as Sony Corp., NEC Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. cut jobs amid the worst postwar recession. Lovers can get a couple of hours of privacy for as little as ¥3,000, the cost of entry at a Tokyo nightclub, in a country where adults often live with their parents until their 30s.
"It's a recession-proof industry," said Steve Mansfield, chief executive officer at New Perspective, which helps manage six hotels owned by Japan Leisure Hotels Ltd. "We've even made some rooms more profitable by putting up prices."
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