Some Historic Buildings Transformed into Hotels in Initiative That Aims at Preservation Through Utilization

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, October 5, 2025

Buildings with historical value are being converted into hotels in greater numbers across the nation.

The aim of the initiative is to reduce the financial burden on the building’s owners, who are responsible for maintenance costs. At the same, the hope is that the hotels will showcase the charms of the communities they belong to, thereby contributing to regions’ revitalization.

The central government is also supporting such dual-purpose moves through legal reforms.

Hakodate, Hokkaido, was once a flourishing port city for international trade. A former Russian consulate building, one of the exotic buildings in the city’s western district, a popular tourist spot, was reborn in July as Hotel Biaclyn Hakodate.

The red brick exterior walls and entrance staircase of the building, which was built in 1908, retain traces of its former glory. The hotel has six guest rooms, each equipped with a sauna. While the price is high — around ¥300,000 per night — occupancy is reportedly steady.

“We want guests to enjoy traveling through time,” hotel manager Yuichi Haseyama said.

The building was a consulate until 1944. After the city purchased it in 1964, it was used as a training facility. Annual maintenance costs of about ¥1 million were incurred until 1996 when the facility was closed due to aging. Four years ago, it was sold to Sovereign Corp., an automobile chemical company based in Nagoya, which renovated the building and turned it into a hotel.

A Hakodate city official welcomed the development, saying: “It’s not just about preserving a building that is a part of the cityscape. Utilizing it as a hotel attracts more visitors and creates a livelier town.”

In 2019, the revised Cultural Properties Protection Law went into force with the aim of preserving cultural assets while utilizing them. The law made it easier for municipalities to incorporate cultural properties into town development. In 2018, the revised Hotel Business Law also went into force, allowing small rooms and buildings to be used as lodging facilities.

Since those legal changes, consultations from building owners have increased at Note Co., a Hyogo Prefecture-based company that specializes in converting historic buildings into hotels.

The Nipponia Harima Fukusaki Library Maison is another lodging facility that utilizes a building designated by the prefecture as an important tangible cultural property. The facility opened in 2020 in Fukusaki, Hyogo Prefecture, under a project led by Note.

“Guests interested in history choose us because they are attracted to the building’s background,” a representative of the company said.

The trend is spreading nationwide. The “Former Hyogo Noukou Bank Toyooka Branch,” a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, is now being utilized as a hotel named “Toyooka1925.” Built in 1934, this imposing building was purchased by the city in fiscal 2004 and used as an annex to the city hall. It remains city-owned but is run by a local company as a contracted managing company.

“It is frequently used as a wedding venue and has become a place cherished by local residents,” a city official said.

Next year, the former Nara Prison in Nara City, a national important cultural property built by the Meiji government, is scheduled to open as Hoshinoya Nara Prison under a scheme in which the central government retains ownership while selling the operating rights to a private entity.

“The conversion of cultural properties into lodging facilities will likely continue as an effective method of preservation through utilization,” said Josai International University Prof. Yoshihiro Sataki, an expert on tourism studies. “When companies manage these sites, local governments must keep an eye on them to ensure the preservation part isn’t compromised by changes in management or business conditions.”