Every room is now a suite inside one of Japan’s best-preserved historic prisons
A prison built to confine people has become one of Japan’s most unexpected luxury hotels.
HOSHINOYA Nara Prison (星のや奈良監獄) has opened inside the former Nara Prison, transforming a century-old correctional facility into a 48-suite heritage hotel while preserving one of Japan’s most important Meiji-era architectural landmarks.
The former prison is the only one of the country’s five major Meiji prisons to survive in almost its original form. Its red-brick buildings and distinctive Haviland System—where cell blocks radiate from a central watchtower—remain intact, offering a rare look at the ambitious prison design of the late 19th century.
Guest rooms are unlike anything found in a conventional luxury hotel. Former solitary and shared cells have been combined into spacious suites, where vaulted ceilings, brick walls, and original architectural features remain part of the experience. Rather than recreating the feeling of confinement, the design celebrates the building itself as a work of architecture.
The experience extends beyond the guestrooms. Dinner explores the evolution of French cuisine in Japan through the Gastronomy Chronicle course, while breakfast draws inspiration from Bunmei Kaika (文明開化), the Meiji-era period of rapid Westernization that reshaped everyday life in Japan. Tea featuring locally produced Nara black tea and evenings accompanied by the sound of a gramophone continue the hotel’s immersion in the atmosphere of the era.
The hotel also includes Nara Prison Museum by Hoshino Resorts (奈良監獄ミュージアム by 星野リゾート), where guests enjoy unlimited admission throughout their stay while learning more about the building’s history and cultural significance.
Not staying overnight? The museum is also open to the public, and the on-site café and shop serve curry bread, cheesecake, and other items inspired by Meiji-era Western food culture.
Rather than simply preserving a historic landmark, HOSHINOYA Nara Prison turns it into something visitors can actually inhabit—making history part of the stay itself.
HOSHINOYA Nara Prison (星のや奈良監獄)
・Location: 18 Hannyajicho, Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan
・Rooms: 48 suites
・Rates: From ¥147,000 per room, per night (includes tax and service charge; meals not included)
・Access: About 10 minutes by car from JR Nara Station or about 6 minutes by car from Kintetsu Nara Station
・Website (Japanese only): https://hoshinoresorts.com/ja/hotels/hoshinoyanarakangoku/
