Luxury onsen resort planned for Nikko in 2019
Tobu Railway and real estate developer HULIC have announced plans to open a luxury hot spring resort in Nikko that will cater to wealthy tourists. The tentatively-titled ‘Nikko Fufu’ resort is scheduled to open in 2019 2020.
The 14,000 sqm site is located on Tobu-owned land in the Tomozawa district in Nikko. It adjoins the 40,000 sqm Nikko Tomozawa Imperial Villa and Memorial Park, and is close to the Nikko Tosho-gu Shrine. It was previously part of the Imperial Villa estate and was home to a traditional residence built in the 1910s that was converted to a hotel after WWII. The hotel was demolished in the 1970s and replaced with a newer hotel that was demolished in 2006. The land has sat vacant for the past 10 years.Read more
Lingerie company to start Kyoto machiya accommodation business
On May 30, Japanese lingerie company Wacoal Holdings announced that they will be starting an accommodation business that will feature Kyoto’s traditional machiya residences.
From early 2018 onwards, the company plans to renovate old machiya into hotel-like guesthouses targeting tourists, with two or three machiya to open next year. Their goal is to manage 50 machiya over the next five years with a total annual revenue of over 1 billion Yen (approx. 9 million USD).Read more
Mori Trust acquires historic Hakone hotel
On May 18, Mori Trust announced that they had acquired the historic Gora Kansuirou Hotel in Hakone. The transaction took place in March 2017. The sale price was not disclosed.
The Gora Kansuirou Hotel was built in 1921 as the holiday home for the third son of Yataro Iwasaki, founder of Mitsubishi. The 2-storey wooden villa was built on 7 lots of land purchased in 1916 in the Gora subdivision. A member of the Kan’in-no-miya branch of the Imperial Family fell in love with the area after spending a summer as a guest at the home 1928, and purchased half of the grounds from Iwasaki to build their own villa (now the Gora Kadan Hotel).Read more
Nara prison hotel to open in 2020
The 109-year old former Nara Juvenile Prison in Nara City will be converted into a hotel by 2020. On May 26, Japan’s Ministry of Justice announced that a group of 8 companies, led by Solare Hotels and Resorts, was the successful bidder for the project. A total of 3 groups submitted bids back in January.
The prison was built in 1908 and is the only surviving example of the Five Prisons of the Meiji era. The red brick prison was designed by architect Keijiro Yamashita. Yamashita worked for the Ministry of Justice from 1897 to 1930, and designed many prisons across the country.Read more
Temple to develop boutique hotel-style accommodation
Eihei-ji, a buddhist temple in Fukui Prefecture, is developing boutique hotel-style accommodation facilities within temple-owned land. The 18-room hotel will be able to host up to 72 guests in Japanese/Western-style rooms. Guests will be able to experience zazen seated meditation and traditional vegetarian cuisine.
The hotel, which is scheduled to open in late 2019, will be managed and operated by Fujita Kanko Inc. The company operates numerous hotels across Japan including the five-star Hotel Chinzanso in Tokyo.Read more
Tokyu acquires Kyu-Karuizawa Hotel
Tokyu Fudosan Holdings has acquired the Kyu-Karuizawa Hotel for an undisclosed price at the end of March. The seller was an offshore company.
Tokyu is expanding into the luxury hotel market in anticipation of growing demand from foreign tourists. They are also planning to open a hotel in Okinawa in a joint venture with NTT Group. The Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island Okinawa is scheduled to open in mid-2018.Read more
Hakone Fujiya Hotel to close for 2 years for earthquake retrofitting
Last month, Hakone’s historic landmark Fujiya Hotel announced that they will be temporarily closing the hotel from April 2018 to conduct necessary earthquake retrofitting and refurbishment. The hotel will re-open in Spring 2020.
Fujiya Hotel’s main building was built in 1891 and is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property along with the Comfy Lodge, Flower Palace and Kikka-so Inn Annex. Famous past guests have included Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, John Lennon, Prince Albert, Emperor Showa and the current Emperor and Empress of Japan.
The restaurant in the 122-year old Kikka-so Annex building, which was originally a holiday villa of the Imperial Family, will continue to operate as normal during the refurbishment.Read more