If you’ve recently booked a room at the brand new Keio Presso Inn Kayabacho you might want to start looking for alternatives. The hotel, which just opened in August, has suspended operations amidst revelations that the building’s construction may not meet earthquake standards.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport learned this week that Hidetsugu Aneha, the buildings architect, had falsified quake resistance data.

Aneha admitted to the falsification late last week, saying:

“I didn’t feel I was doing something wrong. I was too busy to feel that way.”

Aneha’s admission has raised questions about a number of other buildings the architect has worked on in recent years.

The 260 room hotel near the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been consistently full during the business week. The buildings owners plan to re-open the hotel should it pass additional earthquake inspections.

• Tokyo hotel to suspend business over doubts about quake resistance

It looks like Tokyo’s Otaku class will have to find someone else to bathe with. The women dressed as french maids at the hotel “My Home Moe Room” have turned in their costumes and are no longer providing “special services”. Word is the hotel has changed it’s name after barely a month of bookings — one can only imagine that the name itself may have attracted the wrong crowd.

My Home Moe Room opened earlier this summer to much fanfare and considerable media coverage. The hotel was said to be the first of it’s kind catering exclusively to Akihabara Otaku who, among other things, just can’t resist a women dressed as a french maid. At the time of the opening the hotel was being heralded as the latest example of the Otaku’s growing economic influence. While Otaku rarely leave the house, they usually live with their parents and as a result have a surplus of excess cash that enables them to pursue their many obsessions.
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Mainichi news is reporting that many of Tokyo’s Capsule Hotels are now going upscale with special VIP rooms.

Apparently this doesn’t sit well with purists. Although it’s not clear who is more upset - supporters of Capsule hotels or supporters of VIP rooms. One hotel investor is quoted as saying:

“The current situation sullies the concept of a VIP Room,”

I’m guessing that Capsule regulars are probably more concerned that prices for traditionally minimalist accomodations are bound to rise if this trend becomes widespread.