Kyoto City trying to clear up ownership of its two biggest streets
Some of the land under Kyoto’s two biggest streets, Gojo Dori and Horikawa Dori, is said to still be privately owned by various individuals. According to the city, approximately 166 land titles covering a total area of 10,000 square meters underneath both Gojo and Horikawa streets are still in private names, representing about 1% of the total street size.
Kyoto may relax local hotel laws
On August 31, Kyoto City released a draft plan for potentially relaxing hotel laws in the city. With record tourist numbers, the city is anticipating a need for 6,000 additional beds by 2020. If approved, the relaxed rules could possibly allow hotels in zones where they were previously prohibited, provided strict obligations are met.
In 2015, the city welcomed 3.16 million foreign tourists to its hotels and is expecting this number to reach 4.4 million in 2020. To cater to the increase in both foreign and domestic visitors, 10,000 beds would be required. Hotels with 4,000 beds are already planned or under construction in the city.Read more
Demolition of philosopher’s home in Kyoto starts this week
Demolition of the former home of philosopher Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945) started earlier this week. Nishida, founder of the Kyoto School of philosophy, rented the traditional Japanese house from 1912 ~ 1922. It is 500 meters north-west of Kyoto University, where he was a professor.
The 2-storey, wooden house was built in the later part of the Meiji era (1868-1912) as a rental property, with the landlord living nearby. The deteriorated condition of the 100+ year-old house was cited as the reason for demolition. It is expected that it will be replaced with apartments.
Historic school building in Kyoto to be converted into boutique hotel
A 83-year old former elementary school building in Kyoto will be renovated and converted into a luxury, 40-room boutique hotel. On May 20, Kyoto City announced that they will sign a 60-year lease with NTT Urban Development Corporation. NTT will pay an annual rent of 65 million Yen (590,000 USD) for the building and land.Read more
Kyoto City auctions off historic villa
Kyoto City has auctioned off a 3,200 sqm site of city-owned land in Ukyo-ku. The ‘Narutaki-ryo’ was built in 1939 as the residence of Kozo Ohwatari of the Kyoto Dento Electric Power Company. After WWII, the property was acquired by Kyoto City and had been used as a wedding and function facility.
The property includes a large landscaped garden, and a traditional Japanese style main house with a western-style annex, both dating from the 1930s. The city carried out large renovations and repairs to the property over a 10 year period in the 1990s, but the interior and exterior remains largely original.Read more
Local group wants to curb speculative investment in Kyoto apartments
A citizen’s group in Kyoto is campaigning for the city to introduce regulations to curb the recent speculative buying of apartments in the history city. On January 22, the Kyoto Community Development Citizen Association submitted a proposal to Kyoto City’s Town Planning Department seeking counter-measures against an overwhelming increase in real estate prices.Read more
Temple to demolish 100+ yr old historic villa in Kyoto
The former holiday villa of the head priest of the Nishi Hongan-ji Temple is going to be demolished this month.
Sanya-so, located in Kyoto’s Fushimi Ward, is a 10,000 sqm estate dating back the the late 1800s. In 1876, 21st head priest / Abbot Koson Otani (1850 - 1903) built a single-storey wooden house to be used to host guests. It had seven rooms and a tea house, and was situated on an elevated block of land overlooking Uji River.
In 1900 a new wing was built with four rooms. The new house was also single storey and had a total floor area of 360 sqm. It also featured floor heating, with steam piped through pipes that were installed under the floors.
The villa hosted several notable guests throughout the years, including Tokugawa Yoshinobu (the last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate), Prince Ito Hirobumi (samurai and four time Prime Minister), and Field Marshal Prince Yamagata Aritomo (two time Prime Minister).Read more