While luxury hotels have been built inside everything from a Boeing 727 plane to four meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean, a former prison site hardly feels like the place to kick back and enjoy the good life.
But when it comes to the former Hoshinoya Nara Prison in the Japanese prefecture of Nara, hospitality group Hoshino Resorts Inc converted four out of the five wings once used to house prisoners into 48 suites for visitors who come to tour the historic prison built in 1908.
The red-brick fortress-style building sitting on a lot of over 25 acres was built by the Meiji government as a symbol of the rapid modernization of Japan’s rural provinces and the empire’s focus on moving from punitive law and order to rehabilitative reform.
Hoshinoya Nara Prison to open doors as hotel
As the infrastructure started to age, Hoshinoya Nara Prison officially closed as a detention facility in 2017 and reopened to those interested in touring the space as a historic landmark. The prison site is located near the Nara Park, known for its wandering deer and the Todai-ji temple complex.
With many coming to Nara from other parts of Japan and interested in staying overnight, Hoshino Resorts eventually undertook the conversion of former cell blocks into luxury suites that start at 147,000 yen ($909 USD) per night. It officially opened its doors to visitors on June 25 after a seven-year period of construction and several delays for earthquake assessments.
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The suites were built to respect the original radial design in which cell wings emerge from a central guardhouse and command post.
The experience was designed to maintain the historical aspect as much as possible with guests arriving through the main gate that eventually became a symbol of the prison, and the rooms retaining the hand-laid brickwork, preserved ceiling mouldings and steel pillars of the original cells but with modern lighting and design touches added to give it a friendlier vibe.
The largest suite was made up of 11 former cells combined together into a space with multiple rooms and a large living area for group travel.
Hoshino Resorts
“We want to pass on the history and value of this building to future generations”: Hoshinoya Nara Prison
“We want to pass on the history and value of this building to future generations,” Masaya Kakegawa, the hotel’s general manager, said in a statement.
The entire preservation project is part of the “heritage cycle” movement promoted by the Japanese government over the last decade in which tourism is seen as a primary way to preserve historic structures and buildings.
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Guests have a special alleyway to go through the hotel separately from tourists coming for day visits, while the rooms were specifically designed to not have any electronics or watches to encourage guests to reflect on where they are staying without distractions.
A restaurant that showcases the evolution of French cuisine’s popularity in Japan has also been developed on the site of the prison’s former dining hall.
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