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
HULIC wins bid for hotel development on historic site in Nara
Japanese real estate company HULIC has been selected to develop a hotel on a historic site within Nara Park. Nara Prefecture received bids from four companies during the month-long public tender process held in January 2017.
The 1.3 hectare site was originally home to a sub temple, but sold off to private interests in the late 1800s. Since then it has had several owners, including poet Haruyasu Umeda, and banker Kenshiro Yamaguchi. After WWII, the Nara Family Court annex building was built on the land, although it has since been demolished. Remains of the traditional Japanese garden dating from the 1910s remain.Read more
Historic Yugawara Fujiya Ryokan sold to fund, to reopen in 2018
The historic Fujiya Ryokan in Yugawara, Kanagawa, has been sold to a fund and will re-open in 2018.
The sukiya-style building was built during the Meiji period (1868-1912), while the gardens date from the previous Edo period. The ryokan was a famed high-end onsen until its closure in 2002. Since then, the building has sit empty and unused.Read more
Mori Trust to develop luxury hotel near Nara Park
Mori Trust has won the bid to develop a hotel on the edge of Nara’s Yoshikien Garden and Nara Park.
Mori is planning to have architect Kengo Kuma design the buildings, and will be seeking out an international luxury hotel brand to operate the hotel. Read more
Kyoto hotel industry boosted by foreign tourists
Hotel revenues and occupancy rates in Kyoto are rising thanks to the recent boom in foreign tourist numbers. Even the typical off-season months in winter and summer are now seeing strong demand for accommodation.
According to the Kyoto Convention Bureau, a survey of 34 hotels catering to foreign tourists found that the hotel occupancy rate in January 2017, which is off-season, was 75.7%. This is an increase of 4.3 points from 2016 and the highest rate seen for the month of January in the past four years. Kyoto Hotel Okura had an occupancy rate of 89.0% in 2016, up 7 points from 2015.Read more
Otemachi’s first serviced apartments to open this month
Otemachi, one of Japan’s top business districts, will see the opening of its very first residences at the end of this month. Until now, there have been no apartments or residential options in the Otemachi and Marunouchi districts.
Ascott Marunouchi Tokyo is located on the top 9 floors of the recently completed Otemachi Park Building. The 130 serviced apartments range in size from 38 ~ 163 sqm and are suitable for monthly stays. 121 of the apartments are studios and 1-Bedroom units, 8 are 2-Bedroom units and 1 apartment is a 3-Bedroom unit.Read more
Hakone modernist hotel to close next year
Hakone Hotel Kowaki-en will close its doors in January 2018, marking the end of 60 years of operations. The 224-room hotel was designed by modernist architect Yoshimura Junzo and built in 1959. The hotel’s garden dates back to 1914.
The hotel closure is due to aging buildings and facilities. The owner and operator, Fujita Kanko, operates 6 other hotels in the immediate neighbourhood, and this site is expected to form part of a larger hotel redevelopment project. It could include the adjoining Kowaki-en Horai-en Garden, which is a 16,000 sqm traditional Japanese landscape garden. Fujita Kanko acquired the garden in 2015.Read more