Because nothing is lost, nothing is created and everything is transformed, a hotelier will soon be running Nintendo’s former Kyoto site.
In 2014, Nintendo inaugurated its brand new premises in southern Kyoto, finally putting an end to the historic workshop bordered by the Takasegawa and Kamogawa rivers, which had been occupied since 1933. In January 2020, a hotelier announced his intention to operate this art deco building. Two years later, the first reservations for lovers of video game history and Shinto temples are now open.
Nintendo no Hoteru
The official website of this hotel is called Marufoko, in homage to one of Nintendo’s registered trademarks for marketing playing cards in the post-WWII era, actually just has the page “reservationsfrom his side. From April 1st (no, I’m not kidding) tourists can already spend one or more nights there in one of the 18 rooms of the house.
The only problem: To do this, they must find a way to enter Japanese territory, a prospect made particularly difficult for now by the Covid-19 pandemic. As you wait to fall asleep, imagine what Nintendo has produced in the room that serves as your bathroom, the Japanese of GameWatch
A bicycle
The various rooms currently on offer vary per day, from 97,000 yen for 33 square meters to 195,000 yen for 74 square meters (about 1,500 dollars). Is that the price of sleeping somewhere between traditional and modern? Still, the Nintendo premises (the real ones) will only be a 40-minute walk away. But everyone knows that in Kyoto, the bike is king.
