NEWS: Hoshino Resorts Announces Opening of Hoshinoya Nara Prison — Japan’s First Luxury Hotel in a Former Prison
- Discovering Hospitality
- 8 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Leading Japanese luxury hospitality operator Hoshino Resorts today announced the opening of Hoshinoya Nara Prison on 25 June 2026, marking a bold new chapter for the brand as it transforms a historic penitentiary into a refined luxury retreat.
The property becomes the tenth flagship under the prestigious HOSHINOYA brand and Japan’s first luxury hotel housed within a former prison.
Originally built in the early 1900s, the former Nara Prison is a designated National Important Cultural Property and the only fully intact example among Japan’s five largest Meiji-era prisons. The landmark has undergone a meticulous restoration, preserving its distinctive Japanese Western-style architecture, including red-brick domes and arched gateways, while introducing contemporary comfort and design.
The hotel features 48 guest rooms, each reimagined from former solitary confinement cells into high-ceilinged minimalist suites that artfully blend original brickwork with modern wood paneling.
The largest accommodation, an expansive 70-square-metre deluxe signature suite, incorporates 11 former cells and includes a private dressing lounge alongside a curated collection of music and books. Additional 60-square-metre suites (10 cells) and 50-square-metre suites (nine cells) are designed for up to two guests, with flexible partitioned living spaces in select categories.
Rates begin at US$233 per guest, per night.
Guests can immerse themselves in experiences inspired by the Meiji period, including gramophone-accompanied evening aperitifs, traditional rickshaw tours, and perfume-blending workshops reflecting fragrance techniques introduced to Japan during that era.
Ahead of the hotel’s official debut, a dedicated museum will open on 27 April 2026, offering visitors insight into the prison’s architectural heritage, Japan’s penal history, and the lives of former inmates. The museum complex will also feature a café serving Western-influenced Meiji-era cuisine and a retail space highlighting handicrafts created through prison work programs.
With Hoshinoya Nara Prison, Hoshino Resorts continues to redefine experiential luxury, blending heritage preservation with immersive cultural storytelling in one of Japan’s most architecturally significant landmarks.
