Meiji University Plans to Renovate Historic Hotel; Various Japanese Literary Figures Visited Hilltop Hotel to Write Their Works

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:59 JST, November 16, 2024

Meiji University has purchased the land and the Hilltop Hotel in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, with plans to renovate and reopen the long-established hotel.

Beloved by literary giants such as Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima, the hotel has been closed since February due to the aging of the building.

Meiji University, which bought the hotel on Friday, plans to reopen it after renovating the property while maintaining its current appearance.

The Hilltop Hotel, known in Japanese as the Yamanoue Hotel, is located on a hill between the university’s school buildings.

The renovation is part of projects to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Meiji University in 2031.

While the building will function as a hotel, the university is also considering using part of it as a dormitory for international and Japanese students. No date has been set for the reopening.

“We will carry on the building as a new symbol of the university,” said a spokesperson for the university.

The building was constructed in 1937 as the headquarters of an organization founded by a Meiji University graduate to improve the lives of the needy, among other things.

The building was confiscated by the GHQ after World War II, and then opened as a hotel in 1954.

Many writers stayed there while under pressure from their deadlines. Before it closed, the hotel had 35 guest rooms.

“We hope that the [hotel’s] history and tradition will be passed on and that it will continue to develop,” said an official from the hotel.