Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka lights up for last Christmas
TOKYO —
The outside of the 40-story Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka was lit up in colors to resemble a Christmas tree in Tokyo on Thursday night.
It will be the last Christmas that the hotel, known as the Akasaka Prince until 2007, will be celebrating because it is scheduled to close at the end of next March after 55 years of operation.
The illumination will continue until midnight Dec 25.
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sk4ek
On a documentary the other night, they were interviewing the guy in charge of the hotel's mechanical systems, and he was going on about the woes of trying to maintain a building that is all of 28 years old... the scrap-and-build mentality is so ingrained in the post-war generation; surely a building like this was designed to last longer than two or three decades. (The hotel may be 55 years old, but the current main tower was completed only in 1982...)
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apecNetworks
Heck, where does one go to get some privacy and a cool drink now that they are closing. Akasaka is a nice area.
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goddog
What a shame to tear down a perfectly good building. I do not understand Japan sometimes.
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Piglet
Japanese luxury hotel brands face very strong competition with international brands (Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, etc...). All of these hotels (founded mainly with domestic funds) significantly lack funding compared to international groups backed by investment funds, Middle-East families, etc... (without talking about international synergies and modern management). I wouldn't be surprised that Seibu group is in a similar situation and cannot face anymore the amount of funding necessary for maintaining and renovating luxury hotels.
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Gurukun
That would have been a cool "Picture of the Day"!
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Altruist777
Good comment Piglet.
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zhazam05
Its indeed sad for the moderately priced tourist, Nice rooms,easy on the wallet for nippon,what a "penny-wise-Pound-foolish idea.
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Zenny11
Zhazham05.
Moderately priced maybe for the business traveller on Company money.
Most places that charge 3000yen for backpackers, or Ryokans that charge 4000Yen per room are pre-booked by more than 6+months.
Plenty of tourists are more than happy with your average business hotels or cheaper accomodations.
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pamelot
The illumination will continue until midnight Dec 25.
Then, quicker than you can say "Bobs your uncle", every semblance of Xmas is ripped down, to be replaced with bamboo, plum and pine, for the last time...
I agree with Gurukan, this would have made a far more interesting "Pic of the Day".
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kyoken
Kitsch.
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tokyotom
"Last Christmas I gave you my heart"
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usaexpat
Cool the next urban ruin, Japan is a dream for the ruin seekers since the bubble burst.
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