TENRI, Nara Prefecture—A 128-year-old wooden building will be remodeled into a one-guestroom hotel designed for railway buffs, offering them front-row views of trains coming and going at Ichinomoto Station here.
The station building on the JR Sakurai Line was built in 1898 to coincide with the opening of a section between Kyobate Station in Nara and Sakurai Station in Sakurai managed by the now-defunct Nara Railway.
The one-story building has retained its original shape, and 54 inbound and outbound trains stop at the station each weekday.
Used by 1,848 passengers in 2025, the station has been unmanned since 2002.
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), finding it difficult to maintain the old building, handed it over to the city government.
The municipality solicited ideas and adopted a proposal submitted by Risshisha Co., a Kyoto-based accommodation management company, to renovate the building into a hotel.
The company said it will remodel unused office space, a resting room and a kitchenette into a two-story building.
The first floor will be boarded, with some sections lined with tatami mats, and contain a table for four people, chairs, a kitchenette, a restroom and a bath. A sofa is also planned.
The second floor will be lined with tatami mats. Windows on the roof and walls will allow guests to watch the trains at the platform.
The company said it is considering ways to entertain railway buffs in the guest room.
The hotel will be limited to one group of about four guests per night.
An overnight stay will cost around 20,000 yen ($130) for a pair during the off-season.
Reservations will be accepted from spring.
An office adjacent to the station will handle check-ins and check-outs.
The company also plans to refurbish the passenger waiting room of the station by installing vending machines for food and drinks. It will also set up a space for sales of local agricultural products and other items.
“We want to revive the historic station building in the historic town,” said Risshisha President Koji Maeda.
Also on the Sakurai Line, the station building of Yanagimoto Station in Tenri has been refurbished to add a cafe.
Other stations around Japan whose unmanned buildings have been turned into hotels include: Koyashita Station on the Koya Line operated by Nankai Electric Railway Co. in Kudoyama, Wakayama Prefecture; and Futamata-Honmachi Station on the Tenryu Hamanako Line managed by Tenryu Hamanako Railroad Co. in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
A project is also under way to restore the Obitoke Station building in Nara to its design during the Taisho Era (1912-1926).
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