Japan turned a 118-year-old prison into a luxury hotel where guests sleep in converted cells

A former Japanese prison from the Meiji era has reopened as a luxury hotel. Hoshino Resorts. A Meiji-era prison in Japan has been turned into a luxury hotel with 48 rooms. The new hotel at the Former Nara Prison officially opened in June 2026 under Hoshino Resorts. Its iconic red-brick design draws on Western detention-center architecture from the late 1800s. A Japanese resort company has turned an iconic former prison into a 48-room luxury hotel . The former Nara Prison, built in 1908 and designated a cultural property in Japan in 2017, reopened in June as Hoshinoya Nara Prison Hotel, a luxury hotel operated by Hoshino Resorts. The complex features a star-like design, with five detention wings fanning out from a central command post. The entire development spans 25 acres and includes the Nara Prison Museum, per a press release from Hoshino Resorts.