Don Quijote to develop 120m high-rise in Shibuya
On August 13, discount retail giant Don Quijote Holdings announced plans for a high-rise retail, office and hotel building to replace their former Shibuya Store in downtown Tokyo. Land readjustment work is scheduled to start next month with the new building scheduled for completion in April 2022.Read more
Nitori acquires 118-yr old ryokan in Hokkaido
Furniture company Nitori Holdings is entering the boutique hotel industry with the acquisition of a historic hot spring hotel in Hokkaido’s port city of Otaru. The sale price has not been disclosed.
Ginrinsou has long been considered one of Hokkaido’s leading onsen inns. The three-story ryokan sits on a prominent hilltop location overlooking Otaru’s port district and Ishikari Bay. An additional five-story concrete building was added to the ryokan at a cost of 400 million Yen, bringing the total floor space up to 3000 sqm. Nightly room rates at the 14-room ryokan are around 37,000 Yen per person.Read more
1000 room hotel for Osaka’s Umeda district
On August 7, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings announced plans to open a 1,000 room hotel in Yodobashi Umeda Tower - a 35-storey redevelopment adjacent to the Yodobashi electronics store in Umeda, Osaka. The first 8 floors of the building will be retail, with the hotel located on floors 9 and above. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2020 as Hotel Hankyu RESPIRE Osaka, with the lower-floor retail to open in late 2019. This will be the largest hotel based on room count in Osaka City.Read more
40-storey tower for Shinjuku's Kabukicho
A 225-meter tall, 40-storey tower is planned for the site of the former Shinjuku Tokyu Milano movie theatre in Kabukicho. Construction is expected to start in July 2019 with completion tentatively scheduled for 2022.Read more
Mori Trust to open Hilton-branded hotel and time-share resort in Okinawa in 2020
On June 26, Mori Trust started construction on a 300-room hotel on Okinawa’s Sesoko Island. The Okinawa Sesoko Project includes the main hotel, which will be operated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts, along with a time-share resort that will be sold to members in weekly units. The time-share resort will be operated by Hilton Grand Vacations.Read more
Second Indigo Hotel to open in Inuyama in 2021
InterContinental Hotels Group will open their second Indigo Hotel in Japan in 2021. Hotel Indigo Inuyama Urakuen will replace the Meitetsu Inuyama Hotel located just outside of Nagoya City.
The Meitetsu Inuyama Hotel opened in 1965 with 123 rooms. The grounds include a Japanese tea house built for Oda Nagamasu (1548-1622), the younger brother of powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga. The 400-year old tea house, called ‘Jo-an’, is considered one of the three best tea houses in Japan, and is designated as a National Treasure. It was relocated to the gardens by Meitetsu in 1972.Read more
Kyoto City sees 4,500 new hotel rooms added in 2017
Kyoto City saw an additional 4,532 hotel/accommodation rooms added in 2017, putting the city’s total inventory above 38,000 rooms. In the past 12 months over 3,000 rooms have been opened in simple lodgings, which refers to guest houses and low-priced hostels. The growing number of foreign tourists to the former capital has been a driving force behind the new supply.
The city had 38,419 rooms as at the end of 2017, up 13.4% from 2016. Hotels make up the largest share with 23,899 rooms, up 6.5% from the previous year. Traditional ryokans dropped 0.8% to 5,273 rooms, while simple lodgings saw a 50% increase to 9,247 rooms. Kyoto City’s survey only covered licensed accommodation, with unlicensed, illegal rooms not included in the total count.Read more