CHECKING IN AT NARA STATE PRISON

On inhabiting spaces designed for confinement

“Here’s your key” will be spoken for the first time at Nara State Prison in Japan this summer.

In June 2026, Hoshinoya opens its newest hotel on the site of the sole remaining example of the Meiji government’s Five Great Prisons — a red-brick complex that has stood for more than a century, built as part of Japan’s rapid modernization where architecture b…