Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. (head office: Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Seiichi Miyajima,) and Nomura Real Estate Hotels Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo; headed by Toshihide Tsukasaki, president and representative director) have announced the launch of a new self-operated hotel brand, NOHGA HOTEL, planned to open in Ueno, Tokyo in the fall of 2018. This hotel brand represents part of the Group’s efforts to actively promote — using hotels as a starting point — the creation of cities that lead the way to tomorrow, and the creation of communities that links individuals to societies, and societies to cities.
In its medium/long-term business plan released in November 2015 (to be achieved by March 2025), the Group listed the growth of the size and expansion of its business range in the field of development as one of its key strategies. Within this strategy, the Group is strongly focusing to create “urban-type compact towns” that are both multifunctional and highly convenient. Since the release of the business plan, the Group has developed and launched the OUKAS brand of senior housing, and now “NOHGA” has been added as a hotel business to the its range. The Group will continue to move forward in “building cities that connect today with tomorrow’s possibilities” and “embracing every moment of life’s pursuits with people and communities”.
About NOHGA HOTEL
The current hotel market in Japan is mainly composed of luxury city hotels and budget hotels targeted for business travelers. However, with increasing number of foreign tourists visiting Japan, the demand of hotel travelers has changed gradually. There is a growing trend for hotels to be judged not on the basis of their convenience and affordability alone, but more on uniqueness that matches their personal preference and style, having more interest in how they spend their time during their stay.
In response, the Company will be developing a hotel brand that creates a new value, based on the concept of offering guests an unforgettable experience that grows out of deep ties with the local community.
As well as its refined sense of quality, each hotel will be designed based on the “color” of the community where it is located and will feature unique items including furniture, amenities, and art pieces made in collaboration with local craftspeople and designers, encouraging guests to engage the local culture within the hotel. What is more, NOHGA will offer generously sized lobbies and lounges with a hint of warmth, aiming to create a comfortable “home away from home” where guests can truly relax as though they were in their own home.
For hotel guests to develop deep ties to the local community that will give opportunities to many unforgettable encounters, the staff will proactively engage with guests to introduce the area’s charms. A variety of services will be available to encourage guests to explore the “charms” of the local culture and history for these encounters.
NOHGA HOTEL UENO
The Ueno area, where the NOHGA HOTEL UENO will be located, is full of art & cultural facilities, including Ueno Park and the National Museum of Western Art, and tourist attractions like Ameya-Yokocho Market where visitors can experience downtown culture of the city. Nearby Asakusa is similarly a bustling area within the same ward of Taito visited by a large number of tourists. The area is also known to be a base of many craftspeople of, for instance, Edo-kiriko glass specialist, Tokyo silversmith, and other traditional crafts that have been practiced since the Edo period (1603-1868), as well as young designers and artists.
I. Ties to the Local Area
It is planned for the hotel to collaborate primarily with the following partners’ products and design creativity to be incorporated into the hotel’s designs and amenities: Kimoto Glassware Co., Ltd., the first enterprise in Japan to develop black Edo-kiriko glass and continues to offer new glassware and glass objects; Kyo-gen Inc., a family-crest designer, creates pieces based on the concept of “family crests as a form of design”; SyuRo Inc., an interior goods store offering designs that adapt traditional Japanese techniques to contemporary lifestyles.
In such abundant environment, the hotel will regularly host on-site events and workshops led by craftspeople, designers, chefs, sommeliers, and other “creators” from the neighborhood, in order to give hotel guests and visitors the opportunity to enjoy a variety of cultural experiences.
■ Kimoto Glassware: Founded in 1931, the company is a wholesaler of glass tableware. It takes its relationships with factories and craftspeople and fuses them with the new sensibilities of designers so as to produce original items such as Edo-kiriko and glass objects that fit contemporary lifestyles.
■ Kyo-gen: Shoryu Hatoba, the third generation in the family company, and Yohji Hatoba, the fourth generation, draw on their roots as craftsmen in the hand-painting of family crests on kimonos, and by looking on family crests as a form of design, they sublimate Edo sensibilities into designs that fit contemporary lifestyles, creating crest designs and package designs for businesses and individuals. They are ever in pursuit of shapes that are rooted in Japanese culture.
■ SyuRo: Masuko Unayama handles the planning and development of original brands consisting of such things as Japanese traditions, the techniques of craftspeople, or items made at welfare centers, spreading within Japan and abroad products that are designed for long-term use in everyday life.
II. Curator
Teruo Kurosaki will be serving as overall curator* of the hotel, suggesting spaces, artworks, and furnishings that will make guests’ stay comfortable and pleasant. It is planned for the artworks in the hotel to be changed frequently within a year so that guests can enjoy whenever they visit.
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Teruo Kurosaki
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Born 1949 in Tokyo; the founder of IDEE. Focusing mainly on the production of both domestic and international furniture designers and its sales planning, based on the theme of “exploring a way of lifestyle”, his idea of lifestyle has spread along with his business. He creates and stimulates the situation of the city surrounded by design through Tokyo Designers Block and R.project. In 2005 he established Flowstone Creative Industries Co., Ltd. Within IID Setagaya Monozukuri School, housed in a former junior high school, he created a new place for learning, “Freedom University” operated by Schooling-Pad. His other creations includes Farmers Market @UNU, 246Common, IKI-BA, MIDORI.so, and COMMUNE 246, and continues to start new businesses while using new values to seek for the next society to come.
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*An expert who proposes and selects the planning and composition of spaces, furniture, fixtures, and artworks in a hotel.
III. Interior Designers
The hotel will be teaming up with interior designers, Masaaki Nambu and Noriko Ohashi, to endeavor new methods to express the hotel’s brand concept of “offering guests an unforgettable experience that grows out of deep ties with the local community” with interior design. Through close discussions with the curator and Nomura Real Estate Hotels, these designers will produce the optimal space design for the new hotel, a design that creates a “place” that changes and adapts continuously.
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Masaaki Nambu
FORWARD STYLE believes that beauty of design, and harmony of quality and functionality, are what make a space a comfortable place for people to gather. The firm is a professional design company that has created many urban-type living spaces by proposing interior designs that are conceived on the basis of people’s perspectives and life scenes. He is the representative director of FORWARD STYLE Co., Ltd., which he established in 2003.
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Noriko Ohashi
Ms. Ohashi carries out the complete design of a space, including everything that constitutes a space, from color schemes and finishes, designing of specifications, and concept work to floor plans, comprehensive interior design, and interior coordination (including displays and artwork). She is the representative director of N design inc.., which she established in 2015.
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Since 2004, the two designers have worked extensively for the PROUD and OHANA series of residences developed by Nomura Real Estate Development, and both have contributed greatly in achieving the brands’ current image. Alongside housing’s, they have now begun their challenge in creating another form of space where people stay: hotels.
IV. Web
At the following websites, the hotel will be sharing the charms of the Ueno area and Taito Ward for people around the world.
Official Website: https://www.nohgahotel.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nohgahotel.ueno
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nohgahotel_ueno/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/nohgahotelueno
The Origin of the Brand Name
“You can experience unexpected encounters that can only be found in this place,
this neighborhood.”
When you meet,
discover,
touch,
and experience
the charm that people and local culture impart to an area, the hidden gems not found in guidebooks
– when you encounter those beauty that can only be found in the area, that is the moment of serendipity.
The more “moment” the place can offer, the more attractive it becomes.
To create opportunities to encounter one-of-a-kind experiences
that grows out of deep ties to the local community; that is our concept.
By sharing fortunate happenings (“myohga”) and unexpected experiences,
Nomura Real Estate Development Group aims to build future of cities together with the locals.
With NOMURA creating unexpected, fortunate experiences (MYOHGA)
the group has named the hotel,
NOHGA.
Brand logo design
Overview of property
*In the plan, the land and building will be held by NREG Toshiba Building, a company in the Nomura Real Estate Development Group. It is planned for Nomura Real Estate Development to enter into a lease agreement with NREG Toshiba Building and participate in the project as management company, and for Nomura Real Estate Development to entrust the operation to Nomura Real Estate Hotels. The outline given above is the plan as it currently stands, however, it may change in the future.
Location of property
Contact
Ikuko Shimizu
NOHGA HOTEL PR
