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"Ah, that's where those hotels are."
Junpei, Persona 3

It's hard to have anything approaching an adult relationship in Japan. Especially the Japan of anime. Japan is crowded. Japan is expensive (well, Tokyo's expensive, and nowhere else counts, right?note ). As a result, even if you're of age to engage in certain physical activities, you probably don't have any private space in which to do that and not get caught. You may even be living with your parents, which is a whole other level of uncomfortable (especially if they're not cool with it). Even if you can manage a rendezvous, your six-tatami, underlit, cluttered room with the one-person futon isn't likely to inspire romance. And unlike your North American counterparts, you likely don't own a car, and only advanced, highly acrobatic positions tend to be possible on a bicycle, even with the kickstand down.

So, what's a couple to do, at least without acting like a Hentai pair (i.e. Making Love in All the Wrong Places) and using any location within two minutes' walk of where the mood strikes?

Enter the love hotel. Over the last number of years, the love hotel industry has become quite profitable. They are locations that specialize in providing a place for a couple to have sex.

In the West, hotels of this sort tend to be seedy, quasi-criminal affairs frequented by prostitutes and populated by unsavory characters, or motels far, far outside city limits, reachable only by car and the location of choice for affairs and civil servants (or at least, people who claim to be civil servants). However, classic Japanese discretion and love of commercial pomp have made the typical Japanese hotel a combination of a well-run Holiday Inn, Disneyland, and an upscale adult toy store. Some are quite gaudy on the outside, while many are distinguishable from the outside only by the reduced number and size of windows facing the street. Some of the innovations that might be seen:

  • Multiple separate entrance and exit points, to reduce the chance of running into someone you know.
  • Automated key dispensers with visual displays of the rooms. When a room is paid for, the display goes dark and the key is dropped into a snack-machine-style slot.
  • Mini-bars and room options with an interesting list of purchasable items. Sometimes up to and including costumes and bondage gear.
  • Truly creative theme rooms, often combined with the options above. This can, of course, lead to some questionable choices. (Warning: Link mildly Not Safe for Work)

Needless to say, love hotels get portrayed with that equivocated attitude that necessary but scandalous things usually inspire. For that reason, the Yakuza sometimes have a habit of camping outside the entrances with cameras, then demanding payment to keep the pictures confined.


Examples

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    Anime And Manga 
  • In an episode of Ah! My Goddess, Belldandy is unwittingly brought to what appears to be a love hotel by The Casanova-ish Recurring Character. In the manga version of this incident, she recognized the decor once she was inside ... because Urd had earlier redecorated Keiichi's room to resemble a love hotel room.
  • In Ai Yori Aoshi, Kaoru Hanabishi and Tina Foster are caught without transportation home due to bad weather. The only place they can find for shelter turns out to be a love hotel.
  • The Anthem of the Heart features one of these, styled like a medieval castle. The young Jun thinks it's literally a castle and doesn't understand why her mother gets upset when she talks about seeing her father leaving the place with some other woman. It's later explicitly identified as a love hotel by some other characters, though by that point the place has been shut down for the sake of symbolism.
  • Ayakashi Triangle: When Matsuri and Suzu are forced to fight a corrupted Lippy, an embodiment of human desire, they're lured into an derelict love hotel to give her a Home Field Advantage. Suzu panics when she realizes where they are, and Lippy immediately sends her into a Pocket Dimension which she can't leave without having sex with boy Matsuri (which, unknown to her, will be fatal).
  • A major motif in B Gata H Kei. In multiple episodes, Yamada attempts to take Kosuda to one, and in the last episode they actually attempt to have sex in one.
  • In Baby Pop, the main characters — for lack of an actual hotel room — race a Salaryman and his lady friend for the last room in a Love Hotel. That said main characters are father and step-daughter only makes it funnier/more awkward.
  • Legoshi and Haru ended up staying in one in Beastars after rescuing the latter from the Shishi Gumi. It was because it was very late that the last train has departed, and they have no choice but to stay in one for the night. They do attempt to have Their First Time while there, but it fails due to the traumatic experience both just went through.
  • The first episode of Chio's School Road has Chio unknowingly go through a love hotel parking lot while trying to find a shortcut to school after her normal route gets closed off. A pervert snaps a picture of her and uploads it to social media.
  • In the second season of Darker than Black, upon returning to Japan and on account of being a fugitive, Hei takes up residence in an abandoned love hotel in a flooded and abandoned section of Tokyo.
  • Date A Live:
    • In the main series, during Shido's and Tohka's first date, they win a ticket for a free night at a love hotel called the Dream Park. Tohka, who is vastly ignorant of human society, innocently tries to enter, but Shido gets really embarrassed, points out they are too young to go to such a place, and drags her away.
    • In Mayuri Judgement, Yuzuru actually dragged Shido into a hotel called Alien Denai. The embarrassed face she had when she gets out heavily implies the hotel is this.
  • Devil Hunter Yohko featured an infamous sex scene where Yohko's grandma is racing on her motorcycle through Tokyo to stop a demon-possessed Osamu from taking Yohko's virginity at a love hotel.
  • In DNA², Junta teleports himself and Kotomi to one and instantly says that it's not what he planned, thinking that the Mega Playboy inside of him subconsciously brought them there. Kotomi says she'd be okay with going in during her continued attempt to change herself to appeal to him, but Junta decides to not go in. Two guys then appear and drag Kotomi into a back alley after knocking Junta out and are going to rape her, but Junta wakes up and stops them. Played for Laughs when Karin, using her own telekinetic abilities, tries to sense where the two are and is shown to repeatedly ambush couples outside of various love hotels in failed attempts to catch the two before anything happens.
  • In Doujin Work, Najimi invites a boyfriend to one of these... just to see the room and sketch it for future drawing reference.
  • Excel♡Saga:
  • In Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid, Chidori Kaname invites a propositioning stranger to a love hotel. Then she knocks him out with a stun gun and handcuffs him to the shower, and takes advantage of the privacy of the room to check herself for tracking devices, having only asked the man to take her to the hotel as a means of trying to shake the person she's (correctly) convinced is shadowing her.
  • Futari Ecchi: Makoto and Yura go to one at the end of every date. There is even one on the street where they live. And Yuuko, a minor character, has been stated to have collected matchboxes from over 100 different love hotels she has visited with her boyfriend.
  • Takamura Mamoru from Hajime no Ippo attempted to drag a girl he hooked up with on a group date. Not only he was rejected, but the rumors reached the local news. Coach Kamogawa was PISSED when he found out.
  • Handsome Girl and Crossdressing Boy: Hazuki ends up taking Iori to one at the end of the first chapter. And they spend the whole night.
  • Kaoru and Hajime go to a love hotel after a night out on the town in the first episode of I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying. Most of the time, it's implied that they just have sex at home instead.
  • In one of their first undercover missions, Asano and Shinohara from In These Words stay in one of these. And the premise only facilitated their budding attraction.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
    • The topic of love hotels is used for a case of Mistaken for Romance in one chapter when Koromo Shiranui talks with Ishigami about the two spending the previous night gaming and chatting on Discord. Unfortunately, her choice of words leads everyone else to think that she's talking about the two of them having sex, something that both she and Ishigami fail to pick up on.
    • The movie features a brief shot of Kashiwagi and Tsubasa entering a love hotel together, which is notable for being the first time that the anime directly acknowledged the fact that the two are sleeping together (it comes up a lot earlier in the manga, but the chapter that did so was only adapted in audio format).
  • For secrecy/to annoy his love interest, Kazuma of Kaze no Stigma arranges a meeting with the Fair Cop at a love hotel.
  • Toward the end of the second Kimagure Orange Road movie, "Summer's Beginning", Kyosuke takes Madoka to a Love Motel where, after a sweet (and naked) heart-to-heart, they make love for the first time.
  • In the first episode of the Hentai Anime OVA series Kimihagu, the protagonist and Madoka accidentally end up in one while trying to find shelter from the rain. No points for guessing what happens.
  • In Koibana Onsen, Gin and Moeka go to a love hotel when they first try to have sex.
  • Love Hina:
    • In one episode, Naru panics when it appears that Keitaro is dragging her towards a love hotel. It turns out, of course, that he's more interested in the sticker booth.
    • Mutsumi takes Keitaro to one, and he wakes up naked wondering what he's doing there. It seems that Mutsumi is pretty clueless about what they are.
    • In the manga, Keitaro and Naru actually do go to a (tastefully decorated) love hotel to get funky. In typical anime/manga fashion, they are interrupted. By a giant tortoise and his looks-like-a-tan-Shinobu owner.
  • Maison Ikkoku had a number of adventures regarding love hotels. Akemi luring Godai to one in a failed attempt to get Kozue to dump him (and stir up Kyoko in the process) may be the most notorious.
  • Monster Musume:
    • Miia drags Kimihito into one for the sake of getting some privacy from the onlookers gawking at her. He's terribly embarrassed. Once they're inside, she does come onto him, but before they can do anything, the place gets stormed by a SWAT team since Interspecies Romance is illegal at this point in the series.
    • Later on, Miia and Rachnera follow Kimihito and Ms. Smith to a love hotel, only to be caught by MON. They're brought inside and Smith explains that the date was a ruse to lure out whoever sent Kimihito a threatening letter.
  • My Dress-Up Darling: Gojo ends up in one by mistake when Marin rented, thinking it was a studio where they could take photos without properly checking the advertisement. The two end up in a rather compromising position when Marin sits on top of Gojo so he can take a photo of her succubus cosplay, and only a timely phone call from the reception stops them from going any further.
  • In Myself ; Yourself, Syuri and Syusuke are accused of being seen coming out of a love hotel; since they're twins, it kicks off a shitstorm that results in the two of them running away to avoid being separated.
  • In Patlabor: The New Files OVA, Captain Gotoh, and Captain Nagumo take shelter in a Love Hotel during a rainstorm and almost get involved in some hanky-panky... but the restraint they show makes the episode one of the most mature and heartwarming episodes of the franchise.
  • Persona 4: The Animation has a recent motel-turned-hotel in episode 15, complete with funky lights and a single rotating bed that the residents of each room have to share. Hilarity Ensues since they were staying in this hotel on a class trip. In gender-segregated rooms.
  • In Episode 3 of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, Sorata and Misaki follow Jin and Mashiro on their date, which ends up at a love hotel. Misaki can't bear to see Jin going inside with another girl, and goes home, while Sorata tries to punch Jin but ends up getting knocked out and wakes up inside the hotel with his head on Mashiro's lap. It turns out Jin planned the whole thing to make Sorata realize how important Mashiro is to him.
  • In the anime Planetes, something of a Lampshade Hanging occurs; on the crowded space station, non-work space is so limited that the hotels provided for transient commercial visitors are about the only place a couple can go and not be seen by half the station crew and all their workmates. Of course, it's understood that because of this, perfectly ordinary, casual, platonic dates happen in hotel rooms all the time.
  • The OVA episode of Please Teacher! featured a visit to a love hotel that was placed in a strangely rural, idyllic area.
  • In one chapter of Psychic Academy, Ai takes Orina to one. However, his mental link with Orina's roommate causes him to realize that Mew is in trouble, and they leave to rescue her before anything actually happens.
  • When Kagetora and Beni run away from Beni's father in Shinobi Life, they get stranded at a train station and look for a place to stay. The only option is a love hotel. Kagetora, being from the past (feudal Japan, it seems), has no idea what it is and innocently enters, asking for a room. Beni jumps through all kinds of hoops to keep him from finding out what the hotel is actually for. Hilarity Ensues, followed by Mood Whiplash.
  • In a truly hilarious scene in Sk8 the Infinity, Tadashi needs to talk to Reki privately in a real hurry... so naturally, he knocks him out and takes him to one of these! Reki is understandably very freaked out when he wakes up, but Tadashi really does just want to talk. Presumably, a love hotel room was the only place he could get on short notice with guaranteed privacy and discretion on the part of the staff. Later, Reki comments to his friends that Tadashi took him to a love hotel, and is left scrambling to explain when they give him bewildered looks. Langa, who grew up in Canada and can be a little naïve, doesn't even know what a love hotel is, and Reki refuses to tell him.
  • In Juzo Itami's A Taxing Woman the heroine gets a line on the bad guy's criminal empire by auditing the bedsheets and laundry at one of these. Also, the theme rooms depicted have to be seen to be believed. These hotels are even clearly visible in real life from the Narita Express train (or at least they were back in 1995).
  • In Weathering With You, when Hodaka, Hina, and Nagi go on the run, one of these is the only place that will take them in without asking for ID or other inconvenient questions. The room they get has a jacuzzi, a karaoke system, and its own food and drink vending machines, and nothing untoward happens.
  • Why the Hell Are You Here, Teacher!?: In an omake chapter, Chizuru accidentally took Tanaka to a love hotel when there weren't enough rooms at the regular hotel. They end up having sex for the first time there.

    Comic Books 
  • A French graphic novel by Frederic Boilet about a Westerner in Japan is actually titled Love Hotel. The protagonist, somewhat acquainted with Japanese culture but fairly clueless, ends up using one as a regular hotel, and later on mistakenly gives the hotel's card to a business contact.

    Fan Works 
  • According to a couple of brief lines in Batteries, Ryuuko started off and conducted her business in one of these.
  • Doing It Right This Time: When Asuka tells Hikari about her conflicted romantic feelings and that she's giving serious thought to "the Tenchi Option", the following exchange takes place:
    Asuka: And I don't care how lewd and improper you think it is. This is the 21st century. Girls can have harems too if they want to.
    Hikari: Well, it can't be more lewd and improper than getting your little sister to cover for you while you sneak off to love hotels.
Suffice it to say that Hikari and Toji's offscreen Relationship Upgrade was more thorough than Asuka had previously imagined.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • The Bobo has a scene where Peter Sellers and Britt Ekland visit such a place - an over-the-top affair with a giant bed that folds down from the wall, a TV in the ceiling, and a manager dressed like Louis XIV.
  • In City of God, the big robbery by the Trio Ternura occurs in the Brazilian equivalent (a cross between the Japanese and Western ones; it is outside the titular slum, but built for a specific purpose - including mirrored ceilings). There is a humorous moment where one of the gang members walks into one of the rooms and tries to figure out exactly what and how the several people occupying the bed are doing. Later in the movie comes a deeply disturbing scene that explains why the Trio Ternura were wanted for mass murder when there was supposed to be no killing.
  • In Dumb and Dumber, Harry and Lloyd stayed in one while on a road trip to Aspen complete with a heart-shaped bathtub.
  • There's a cute scene in Jab We Met where the male and female end up at one of these. He knows what it is, she does not. The owner asks him how many hours does he want the room? The guy tries to tell him "all night", but she protests saying "We only need it for a few hours!" And "Why pay for the whole night?" She is a very pretty, obviously upstanding girl, and the hotel owner beckons the guy closer and whispers "Wherever did you find her?"
  • Lost Girls and Love Hotels: The source of half the film's title. All of Margaret's many sexual encounters take place in them, mostly hooking up with random men (though she meets Kazu multiple times). Kazu also runs one, she learns.
  • In Les Misérables (2012), Monsieur Thernardier is shown having his inn double as one. During "Master of the House", he's charging extra for "benefits" such as a bed that fits them both, clean sheets, a door that locks, etc. Meanwhile, he pickpockets them while their clothes are unattended.
  • In the Chilean movie Sexo con amor, an intimate and quite iconic scene between Hot Teacher Luisa and one of the parents happens inside the Chilean version of a love hotel. It has Luisa sitting naked on a carousel.
    • The scene was filmed inside a real-life (and very popular) motel in Santiago, the "Hotel Valdivia". Sadly, in June 2013 the original building was demolished.
  • Both versions of Superman II have Clark and Lois pose as a couple and check into one near Niagara Falls to do a human interest story on honeymoon getaways.
  • What's New Pussycat? ends up with all the principal characters converging at an elegant chateau-hotel that thrives on this kind of business.
  • In The Wolverine, Logan and Mariko stay in one for the night although no lovemaking actually occurs (at least, not at the hotel). As There Is Only One Bed, Logan elects to stand on the balcony in the rain (which might be his version of taking a cold shower).

    Literature 
  • Plenty of these turn up in Deep Love. Justified because the main character is a prostitute.
  • In William Gibson's Idoru, several characters rent a room at a Love Hotel, mostly to make use of their room's internet connection.
  • The book Japan-Think, Ameri-Think, which analyzes cultural differences between the two nations, relates a story about two American businessmen who checked into one and then spent a while ordering beers while occasionally calling the front desk to let the staff know they were "available". Eventually, they figured out that it was not, in fact, a brothel, and the two men slunk away with the embarrassing realization that the staff thought they rented the room for themselves.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Downplayed in Criminal Minds. When a victim is found wrapped in a cheap shower curtain, the team canvases the local hotels to find out where it came from. JJ and Reid wind up at a hotel that charges by the hour where the desk clerk makes a point of not asking questions.
  • A Western example on The Golden Girls: In one episode Blanche tries to seduce a man who wants an old-fashioned romance by luring him to one of these. It is island-themed and full of remote-controlled features clearly designed for kinky sex.
  • In an episode of Married... with Children , Peg drags Al away from a meeting he's having with the founders of his church so that he can take her out for her birthday, with him complaining the whole time. The next day, Marcy humiliates him in front of his congregation by showing pictures of their evening—dancing, dinner, a Broadway show, and a stop at one of these type of places, called "The Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em" Motel. Adding insult to injury, despite his previous annoyance, Al is clearly genuinely enjoying himself in every picture.
  • Sense8: Sun Bak makes use of one of these in season two while on the run after breaking out of prison. When Lito asks why, she points out the signs guaranteeing clients' privacy and anonymity which makes it an ideal place to hide out.

    Tabletop Games 
  • The adventure "Colors of Sacrifice" for the Trinity RPG includes a scene set at Chain Hotel. (On the moon!) The name does not come from it being a franchise.

    Video Games 
  • From what's implied, .flow's Sweet Sugar is one of these. There is a small event here where we briefly see Sabitsuki's reflection in Shoulders-Up Nudity and the fact that accessing the "Vomitgirl" Area involves interacting with a maid here.
  • Final Fantasy VII's Honey Bee Inn, which is also famous for having a lot of Dummied Out content that was even more extreme than what ended up in the game proper and thus didn't make the final cut. According to statements by the developers apparently published in the Ultimania Omega guide, the original event planner was pretty fond of creating weird events that kept getting edited like that.
  • Persona:
    • In Persona 3, one of the areas you face the Arcana Shadows in is a love hotel. The Shadow dwelling inside attempts to Mind Control the protagonist and a teammate into... making use of the facilities, but the attempt fails.
    • As mentioned above, in Persona 4 the main characters stay at the same hotel for their class trip thanks to their teacher, Ms. Kashiwagi, having no sense of propriety whatsoever.
  • In the Funcom MMO The Secret World, players naturally end up encountering one of these when they finally get around to visiting Tokyo. Located in one of Kaidan District's seedier regions, the Dream Palace serves as the final location of Issue #10, and as the sole remaining employee explains, they can easily accommodate just about any fetish their customers might exhibit. Not that you get to enjoy their services - after all, even if player characters weren't all strictly business, the current state of Kaidan doesn't exactly offer up a generous supply of romantic partners. Closer investigation reveals that a private detective was keeping the place monitored so he could blackmail wealthy businessmen caught with their pants down; the hotel itself is secretly owned by the Phoenician Brotherhood; and of course, the AV suite has been impregnated with the living memories of the Black Signal from back when he was still human. Oh, and the final mission of Issue #10 involves you paying a visit to that particular room and experiencing the last romantic encounter that occurred there.
  • Yakuza:
    • In Yakuza 0 Kiryu and Makoto spend a night while on the run in a love hotel. Kiryu is very careful to explain that he isn't trying any funny business, it was just the only hiding place he could think of where no one would ask questions or tell their pursuers anything.
    • In Yakuza 3 Kiryu and Rikiya pose as a gay couple to gain entrance to a love hotel while attempting to track down one of the antagonists. Kiryu is slightly rattled by the whole ordeal, both by how into his role Rikiya got and the readiness with which the staff believed them.

    Visual Novels 
  • Crescendo (JP):
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony introduces a Love Hotel called the Hotel Kumasutra. Obtaining a Key of Love from the neighbouring casino will allow Shuichi to spend the night there with one randomly chosen student (who isn't dead). Whoever he gets will see Shuichi as their ideal partner as they act out their greatest fantasy, and Shuichi must play along to avoid breaking the illusion. Most of them are heavily implied to involve sex (whether Shuichi wants it or not), but at least one is completely platonic. In any case, only Shuichi will have any memory of the encounter the following morning.
  • Fate/hollow ataraxia: The game mentions (but does not show) a time that Rin and Shirou, now a couple, decided to make use of one. It didn't turn out well, due to just about everything that could possibly go wrong going wrong, including the power and heat going out in the middle of their stay.
  • In True Love Junai Monogatari, the PC can have... interesting encounters in front of one of these, if he does Pleasure tasks in certain days and hours. One involves meeting a really weird blue-haired girl, another has him walking on prospect love interest Mayumi when she's about to sell her panties to a burusera shop...

    Webcomics 
  • Megatokyo features a scene where the sweet virginal (Ahem?) heroine Kimiko notes that she hasn't been to one in years, not since dragging her drunk roommate Erika out of one. Erika quickly informs her that, yes Kimiko has, twice that Erika knows of, and that she wasn't fooling anyone. Kimiko reluctantly concedes that it was "Once. Maybe."
  • Okashina Okashi / Strange Candy had one. The portal to the next world turned out to be in the ceiling mirror of one of the kinkier rooms.
  • In Unsounded, Sette manages to get into one, with her drooling "attack zombie" in tow, by Squicking the key out of the receptionist. The built-in magic soundproofing comes in handy when she lures one of the Red Berry Boys inside.

    Western Animation 
  • A Deleted Scene from Rocko's Modern Life from Heffer's and Rocko's road trip involves the pair stopping at a "No Tell Motel", with the attendant first saying they're full before a ding comes from behind him. "Oh, looks like we have an early departure!" He also expresses admiration for the pair wanting the room for a full night.
  • The Simpsons:
    • A well-known location in Springfield is the Sleep-Eazy Motel, whose neon sign is partially dimmed so that it seems to read "Sleazy Motel". Mayor Quimby is usually in a nearby room with a bimbo.
    • In "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", Homer and Marge go to the Western version of one of these, called the Aphrodite Inn, which has themed rooms (Camelot, Pharaoh, Caveman, etc.). The only one left is called "The Utility Room", which turns out to be the hotel's actual utility room with a couple of camp beds in it.
    • In "Pixelated and Afraid", Homer and Marge are stranded in the woods with no car, phones, or clothing when they discover the ruins of a mountainside love hotel, which they use to fashion some clothes and shelter.

    Real Life 
  • Nintendo tried branching out into these as one of the many, many ventures they attempted in the 1950s and 60s prior to doubling down on their entertainment roots and entering the toy and video game markets. Pretty much all detailed information about the hotel they operated was quickly buried once gaming had established itself as a sure bet, with one of the only things we do know about the hotel being that it was the last time the company had much to do with the yakuza after decades of relying on them for business.
  • The 'Love Hotel' Emoji 🏩 [1] Is usually portrayed as a pink building with a heart or an 'H' on it. However, because they look similar (especially if one is using a Sony phone), some Western users may mistake this for a "Hospital" emoji or a "get well soon" symbol.
  • A small number of hotel chains of this nature do exist in the USA, Sybaris being a well-known example in the Midwest. The smallest rooms feature a bedroom, full bathroom, wet bar and a hot tub and quickly escalate to having steam showers, fireplaces, and increasingly larger indoor pools up to where the largest not only has an indoor water slide but is effectively a small house with a two-car garage to make the customer feel like they've arrived at a luxurious vacation home.
  • In Argentina "hoteles alojamiento" (literally "accommodation hotels"), most commonly known as *telos*, represent this trope to the max. People usually stay between 2 to 6 hours, you can purchase sex toys, condoms, lube, and alcohol and just have a good old time. Fancier telos have jacuzzis and even themed rooms.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Love Hotel

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Hotel Loveless

Kimihito and Miia take refuge inside a love hotel to get away from nosy onlookers.

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