Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Ephemera for Lunch #24:
Nara Hotel



Today, we have two 1960s luggage stickers from the Nara Hotel in Nara, Japan.1 The Nara Hotel is quite famous and is still very much in business.

According to the hotel's website:
"Nara Hotel was founded in 1909 to serve as the premier guest house in the Kansai region for visiting dignitaries. It has accommodated many guests during the course of its history, imbuing its tranquil setting among the hills of Nara Park with a tangible sense of legend. Through the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, and Heisei eras, the hotel's elegant beauty has grown more pronounced with the passage of time. ... The splendor of Nara Hotel's stately appearance has not faded since its construction 100 years ago, and the place continues to evoke the era of its founding in compelling fashion through an imposing and magnificent presence that seems to blend seamlessly with the unique elegance of the ancient capital."
This summer, the hotel has been undergoing some "seismic retrofitting," to bring it up to current national codes.

I don't see current room rates listed on the website, but the cost of an extra bed in a room is listed at ¥5,940, which would be about $930. So I'm thinking this place might be out of my price range. Parking is free, though.

According to the hotel's Wikipedia page, famous guests over the years have included Edward VIII, Albert Einstein, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, Richard Nixon, Pope Paul VI, and the 14th Dalai Lama (not all at the same time).

Footnote
1. Nara is famous for its free-roaming tame deer, which, according to legend, can be traced to the god Takemikazuchi, who arrived on a white deer to protect the ancient capital city of Heijō-kyō.

1 comment:

  1. I got a coupla old luggage tags from a Japanese hotel not long ago via the mostly-postcards auction site Playle's:

    http://playle.com/listing.php?i=APOPKAPCSHOPPE375834
    http://playle.com/listing.php?i=APOPKAPCSHOPPE198875

    I was buying a buncha luggage tags to slap on my laptop (thought it'd be funny) and maybe decoupage to dresser drawers or somethin'. Haven't decided yet.

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