Brutalist church in Kyoto to be demolished
The former Karasuma Church in Kyoto is facing imminent demolition. The 5-story concrete building is a local landmark for its unusual design.
Luxury villas planned for Miura waterfront
A waterfront district down in Kanagawa’s Miura Peninsula is being pushed as a potential luxury resort targeting wealthy foreigners. A current development proposal includes villas and high-end condominiums that could include their own berths for mega-yachts along with 20-minute access by helicopter from Tokyo. The villas could range in size from 340 ~ 1,120 sqm (3,658 ~ 12,000 sq.ft).
Miyakojima’s property boom
Land prices on this tropical island in Okinawa have increased by as much as 50,000% (no, that’s not a typo) over the past four years.
Town planning decision for 200m tall tower in Nishiazabu
A town planning decision has been made for the Nishiazabu 3 Chome North-East District Redevelopment. The project will see a 200 meter tall mixed-use tower with residences, office, retail and a hotel. Construction is scheduled to start in 2020 2022 2023 with completion tentatively scheduled for 2025 2026 2028.
Traditional merchant residence in Gifu to be converted into boutique hotel
Work is well underway on the conversion of a historic and traditional residence in Gifu into a boutique hotel. The former Matsuhisa Residence was built 100 years ago by the operator of a successful wholesaler of Japanese paper materials. The residence was designed to accommodate guests and customers during the Meiji and Taisho eras. The two-story sukiya-style wooden house with tiled roof has a total of 12 tatami rooms, a tea room, and four warehouses. The buildings sit on 2400 sqm of land.Read more
Redevelopment discussions underway in Tsukuda 2 Chome, Chuo, Tokyo
Landowners in the Tsukuda 2 Chome address in Tokyo’s Chuo ward are considering a large-scale redevelopment. Current considerations are for a mixed-use project including a hotel, retail and apartments.
Kyoto hotels outperform Osaka in 2018
In 2018, the Kansai area was struck by an earthquake in June and typhoon Jebi in September. Although the effects of these two events had very little impact on Kyoto’s tourism industry, they did affect Osaka which saw a drop in visitor arrivals from other Asian countries. STR’s Global Hotel Study for 2018 reported a 7.7% drop in the room revenue index for Osaka, while Kyoto saw a milder 0.2% decrease.
Given that these two cities are only 13 minutes apart by bullet train, why did Kyoto perform better than neighboring Osaka?