Japan love motel converts to funeral home, spurs birth rate, ageing population debate

A love motel in Japan has been converted into a funeral home, sparking a heated discussion on social media about sharply declining birth rates and the country’s ageing population.

A netizen posted a photo of a former love motel in Saitama prefecture in eastern Japan which has become a funeral parlour in February.

Another person, who uses the handle @mikumo_hk, reacted to the post with a screen capture from Google Street View, which showed the site when it was still a motel.

The person said that post was a signal of the declining birth rate and ageing society.

Known as love motels in Japan, the special facilities emerged in the late 1960s and burgeoned during the country’s economic peak, known as the “bubble” era of the 1980s.