Sunday, March 19, 2006
Kinugawa Royal Hotel (Only in Japanese)
If you ever find yourself in Japan and want to experience what life was like here more than 20 years ago, I would recommend a trip to Kinugawa Royal Hotel in Kinugawa-onsen. This small resort town is located about two hours by train from Tokyo, and is 100% concrete like they could only build it in the 1960s and 1970s. The town came into the existence during a time when most Japanese could only afford to take vacation for a one day a year, which they would spend in numerous concrete resort towns just outside of Tokyo.
While Kinugawa Royal Hotel's webpage was renewed last month with cool flash design, nothing else about the hotel has changed since it was built a long, long time ago. Some parts of the hotel apparently have not been washed either.
The result is a hotel that competes on price rather than on quality, and the tasteless plain food served is quickly forgotten. Saturday's entertainment consisted of a big disco taken straight out of the 1970s, while the sound coming out of the speakers was that of old Japanese guests singing karaoke. The hallways are dark and dimly lit, and the old carpet is basically coming off the floor. It is like the entire hotel is just waiting for a small earthquake to put it out of its misery.
The above picture was taken not far from the hotel, in front of the parking lot of a pachinko called "Pachinko University". The store, of course, seems to have closed down.
If you ever find yourself in Japan and want to experience what life was like here more than 20 years ago, I would recommend a trip to Kinugawa Royal Hotel in Kinugawa-onsen. This small resort town is located about two hours by train from Tokyo, and is 100% concrete like they could only build it in the 1960s and 1970s. The town came into the existence during a time when most Japanese could only afford to take vacation for a one day a year, which they would spend in numerous concrete resort towns just outside of Tokyo.
While Kinugawa Royal Hotel's webpage was renewed last month with cool flash design, nothing else about the hotel has changed since it was built a long, long time ago. Some parts of the hotel apparently have not been washed either.
The result is a hotel that competes on price rather than on quality, and the tasteless plain food served is quickly forgotten. Saturday's entertainment consisted of a big disco taken straight out of the 1970s, while the sound coming out of the speakers was that of old Japanese guests singing karaoke. The hallways are dark and dimly lit, and the old carpet is basically coming off the floor. It is like the entire hotel is just waiting for a small earthquake to put it out of its misery.
The above picture was taken not far from the hotel, in front of the parking lot of a pachinko called "Pachinko University". The store, of course, seems to have closed down.
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