Old hotels closing under new earthquake retrofitting rules
Local governments have started to publish earthquake-resistance data on hotels, hospitals, schools and other buildings across Japan. Data on over 12,000 buildings nationwide will be made public.
Kagawa Prefecture was the first prefecture in Japan to release data, with inspection reports on 37 hotels made public. The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to release their findings on buildings later in the capital in the second half of 2017.
Hotels, ryokans, department stores, theatres, aged care homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings built before 1981, over 3-storeys and with a total floor area of 1,000 ~ 5,000 square meters and over are obligated to carry out an earthquake-resistance inspection, the results of which will be made public by local governments.
The introduction of these rules in 2013 has already led to a closure of several hotels across Japan.Read more