Frank Lloyd Wright’s Yodoko Guest House re-opens after 2-year restoration
The Yodoko Guest House in Ashiya, Hyogo, reopened to the public on February 16 after undergoing two years of intensive repairs and restoration work.
This is the only surviving Wright-designed residence in Japan that has remained in largely original condition. The house has a total floor area of 542 sqm (5,832 sq.ft) and sits on over an acre of land.
Takarazuka City to give away historic home
The former Yasuda Residence in Takarazuka City may soon be donated to a private enterprise, with applications from interested parties to be held sometime in February or March this year.
Most expensive apartment building in the Kansai region to go on sale
A record-setting luxury condominium in Ashiya City, Hyogo, will soon go on sale. Branz Ashiya The Residence is a 15-unit building with apartments priced between 200 ~ 500 million Yen (1.8 ~ 4.5 million USD). With an average price of 1,850,000 Yen/sqm (approx. 1550 USD/sq.ft), this will be the most expensive apartment building to go on sale across the Kansai region this century, wiping out a previous record set in Kyoto in 2015.Read more
$100 million resort for Kobe’s Mount Rokko
Nagoya-based Resorttrust, Inc. announced plans to open a members-only resort hotel in Kobe’s Rokkosan area. “XIV Rokko Sanctuary Villa” will be a 48-room resort with Japanese restaurant, bar, spa, and shops. It is scheduled to open in March 2018.
The resort has been designed by KKS Group, a specialist architectural firm that has designed numerous hotels around the world including several Shangri-La and Hilton Hotels, the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya, and the Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Tokyo. The design of the hotel is said to be the ‘Imperial Modern’ style which can be seen in some of the old and grand estates in Japan from the early 1900s. Frank Lloyd Wright’s former Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and the former Maeda Residence in Meguro were said to be the inspiration behind the design.Read more
Hyogo-based company starts boutique historic hotel brand
In early October a Japanese association called NOTE opened up a series of historic hotels in the Sasayama Castle Town in Hyogo Prefecture. The boutique hotels are located in traditional and historic Japanese homes that have been carefully restored. NOTE currently has 11 hotel suites in four buildings in the town, and operates them under their NIPPONIA Sasayama Castle Town Hotel brand. They have also converted a former bank (c1934) in Toyooka into a hotel, restaurant and cafe.
NOTE is a Sasayama-based association that was established in 2009 with the purpose of reinvigorating rural areas through restoring old and vacant houses, promoting tourism and supporting local businesses. The food served in the hotel restaurants, for example, is sourced locally to support the town’s farmers, while staff are hired locally where possible.
NOTE is aiming to have 10 hotels in operation by the 2020 Olympics.Read more
Akashi’s tallest and most expensive condominium tower to go on sale this month
Akashi City’s tallest and most expensive condominium is going on sale later this month and is already drawing a lot of interest from potential buyers. Three of the apartments will be priced over 100 million Yen and the most expensive apartment will be a 110 sqm (1,184 sq ft) 4-Bedroom unit priced at 130.9 million Yen (1.09 million USD). It is unusual to see apartments priced over 100 million Yen in the suburban areas of Kansai, and this is the first time that Akashi City has seen apartments priced at this level.
Proud Tower Akashi will be a 34-storey condominium located just a 2 minute walk from Akashi Station and 350 meters from the Akashi Castle park. The 199 apartments range in size from 54 ~ 110 sqm (581 ~ 1,184 sq ft) and are priced from 22.5 ~ 130.9 million Yen.Read more
Historic hotel in Takarazuka to be demolished
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings plan to demolish the historic Takarazuka Hotel in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, and will build a new hotel in a separate location nearby.
The 5-storey hotel opened in 1926. It was developed by Ichizo Kobayashi, the founder of Hankyu Railway, the Takarazuka Revue and Toho, and local industrialist Kaemon Hiratsuka. Hankyu acquired the hotel a few years after it opened.Read more