This is full access inside the original Nintendo headquarters hotel.
[Intro]
I'm in Kyoto, Japan and I've got a special one for you today.
I've got first access to Marufukuro. Nintendo's original headquarters, turned hotel.
Although opening April 1st of this year, it's not open right now so I'll have full access to show you everything inside.
But like always if you guys want to see what I'm doing on the daily, check out my Instagram account.
If you want to help support the channel check out my merch.
And if you guys have any questions about Japan or your Japan travels, check out my Discord community.
All right let me take you inside!
So you all probably already know that Nintendo is one of the largest video game companies in the world today.
But you may not know that it all started out as a company that made playing cards.
In 1889 here in Kagiyacho, Kyoto and was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi.
And this very building was Nintendo's first ever office headquarters, which was in full operation until 1959 when Nintendo
finally outgrew the office and moved to a larger space.
Since then, it's sat in this location unoccupied, until now.
As it's been transformed into a hotel so that many can enjoy its cool history in person.
Named Marufukuro, after one of the company names Nintendo used in its past.
Situated by the famous Kamo river, it's located just four minutes from Nanojo
Station and a walking distance from Kyoto Station.
Okay so it looks like this hotel is still not completely finished. There's
probably a little bit more stuff to do before the hotel opens. But this is kind
of the whole point of doing a video like this, is to show you it all before it comes out.
But it is getting hot in here so let me just take my jacket off real quick.
Okay that feels a lot better.
I mean just looking at the entrance and just coming inside, I can already see all the
historic pieces that have been just left original but there's also some new pieces.
Let's look around just a little bit more and see if we can find some of the rooms
[Music]
Okay, so this building is where
Nintendo's HQ office was originally.
[Door handle jiggling]
It looks like it's not open, let's go see
if we can find a different room!
[Music]
Walking around you'll quickly see that
the building itself has been preserved,
along with [its] interior and many of its
historic details. You kind of get a sense
that you're traveling in time! Just look
at this piece of art, which is a tile
design pulled from the residence
building's bathroom. The hotel consists
of four buildings, three original and one
new one. Nintendo's main office, a
warehouse, the actual President's house!
Yup, him and his family lived here. And
then a new building designed by Ando
Tadao (安藤 忠雄), who even designed a Malibu house
that Kanye West bought. TA-DAO how you
like me NOW? :D
And this is the lounge area. Unlike some
hotels, Marufukuro is all-inclusive so in
addition to breakfast and dinner being
part of the stay, it also offers drinks
and finger foods 24 hours a day here! Yep,
they've got them happy drinks all day
long!
Okay let's see what's down this hall.
This.. It's just concrete right here.
Oh! And just through here it seems like
the former office building is directly
connected to the new building!
[Music]
[Door opening]
[Music continues]
So this room is quite interesting
because it's a mix of the old building
and the new building. So this room here
that's all in green is a part of the
older building, and connected behind me
is the master bedroom and the new
building with its newer style. It's just
so crazy being in such a historic
building! Just to think that this was the
original starting point of many of my
childhood memories of playing Nintendo.
Ah, that's so crazy, it's just so crazy
being here! Just looking around, I believe
that this furniture is actually part of
the older building and it just has been
what do you call it? Refurbished (yeah!) or
Redid? Redone? It looks new but I think some
of this is probably from the original
wood. I think.
[Laughs] I don't know. Let's go around some more!
[Music]
Cool! The bathroom is all brand new along
with the toilet!
Oh, I guess there's still a little bit of
finishing work left in the sink area.
[Music]
So this is the bedroom area and I think
the thing that surprises me the most is
how big the beds are. You generally don't
see a bed this wide in Japan. Let me just
show you how wide it is.
This is me... Lens isn't picking up, let me
see if I can move this around!
I think that's a little bit better, maybe
if I sit all the way
to the end here..
You can see, I can't even reach halfway.
Let's see if we can see more of this
room!
[Music]
Okay! So this is the balcony area and for
this room it's pretty huge! When they
finish, there's gonna be some furniture
here, some tables and some chairs and
whatnot but man! Just look how spacious
it is. And the view out here ain't so bad
either!
[Music]
So this room looks like it's completely
in the new building and as you can see,
like just everything is obviously new. It
is pretty spacious, you can see that it's
not done completely, the TV is still on
the ground. But, the bed looks larger than
ever! I also like this light thing that
comes all the way from the corner, and
down here in the center.
[Music]
So there's even a little kitchen right
here! It has a stove, microwave,
refrigerator and just right here, there's
a washing machine! You really don't see
washing machines in hotels and very
often in the room itself!
[Music]
Okay, so that's that room. Let's see if I
can find a room that has a little bit
more history. Before we continue on I
want to give a quick shout out to my
regular sponsor, Bokksu! If you all don't
already know Bokksu would provide a
gourmet experience of Japanese snacks
and tea pairings delivered to your front
door. They work with traditional Japanese
factories, some over 100 years old!
To provide you with authentic Japanese
flavors. And each monthly box has its own
unique theme so you get new snacks each
and every time! During this time, new and
existing users will receive this awesome
box. This month's theme is 'sakura season'
so it's packed with all sorts of limited
edition cherry blossom themed goods.
Every year Japanese cherry blossoms
bloom all across Japan and people
celebrate by gathering under the trees,
called 'hanami' (flower viewing) to enjoy a picnic together.
Wherever you are in the world, this is
the perfect box to be able to celebrate
the Japanese sakura season from your
very own home! So have your own sakura
celebration today and get $15 off your
order by using my code PAOLO15 and link
in the description! :D
[Music]
I think this is the way ~
Oh look, looks like they have some
65-inch televisions coming in.
[Applause]
[Music]
So this building was actually the
Nintendo CEO's house back in the day, and
now where the Japanese style rooms are
located; right when you step inside
you're greeted overhead by a stained
glass piece, which was recreated based on
an old design from the main office. It
represents the local scenery and playing
cards. In fact, there are original pieces
preserved like this one throughout the
building and its design recreated in
other parts of the interior.
[Music]
Wow this room is just so impressive! You
can just feel the history walking
through here. This room is actually
pretty unique as you can see, it has the
tatami room. But just looking around you
can see how much historical detail that
has been left behind. I mean if you look
at the covers you can see the handles
and just how much detail there is. And
just along this entire room you can see
these plum designs. I'm... to be honest I
don't really know what it is but it
looks pretty intricate. And just even
looking up at the ceiling you can see
that it's how it was back in the day. And
then this room itself, if you just go
right here it has its own built-in
outdoor bath. And then just beyond that,
you have the full bedroom. It's just cool
to think that you'd be in the same room
as the Nintendo founders is pretty
awesome. And I love how they kept the
entrance as is. You have like the
traditional genkan (玄関) or entrance area
where you step up into the actual house,
and people just leave their shoes in the
front. It's pretty cool. This one you have
the actual like stone going into the
house is pretty cool as well. And the
unique thing about staying at this hotel
is just not the rooms but, as you walk
around the entire building you can see
pieces of Nintendo headquarter history. I
think just even in the front, there's
this huge bird, it's called 'sagi' in
Japanese. I believe that bird is made up
of little wallpaper pieces that was from
this building. All right, let's see if we
can find some more cool stuff in this
building!
[Music]
I guess this is the original warehouse
where all the playing cards were stored.
And this elevator used to move products
up and down the floors. It's a nice touch
that they kept it around, even at the
entrance of the warehouse, you can see
the original boxes Nintendo used to
store their playing cards!
[Music]
One thing I do love about Japanese
construction sites, is that everyone
leaves their shoes outside to keep the
site clean!
Oh ~ And right here it looks like they
have the original playing cards that
they used to make. Before today I'd never
seen original Nintendo playing cards!
Also each of the four buildings are
assigned to one of the card suites. For
example, the warehouse building is a
building is hearts.
[Music]
So this room has a completely different
feel. Maybe it's the red theme, it just
feels a little bit different. More kind
of like 1920s or something, I don't know
why. Maybe maybe it's the red or maybe I
just don't even know my eras. But this
room was renovated from their old
storage warehouse. They're so cool. You
can see that just up here, they have
higher ceilings. But I think I was told
that if you look inside of the closet, it
has some like old remnants of the old
warehouses' wallpaper or something like
that. So let's go see ~
[Music]
Oh okay, so this is the original
wallpaper that they had in the storage
warehouse. So that's pretty interesting. I
love how they have these like little
historic easter eggs hidden throughout
the whole entire hotel.
[Music]
Okay so, I guess this is the balcony area,
not as big as the one before but pretty
decent and with a pretty good view!
Obviously the furniture isn't here yet.
So one thing that I'm actually excited
to see is this whole thing all completed,
all finished, all the furniture in and in
fact! I will be back here in about a
month or so when it opens, and I'll do
another video of that experience. And
I'll actually be staying in one of the
rooms here. So I can share the entire
experience with you and I won't be alone!
I'll be bringing Maiko and I'll be
bringing Wolfie, and we'll just kind of
have a little family trip over here, and
stay at the Nintendo hotel and so, we can
also kind of do a little wrap up of this place
and show you how things got finished. I don't know which room I'm
going to be staying at yet but, let me
know in the comments if you have any
preferences in which room I stay in. Um,
let's see if we can find some other
stuff in this hotel. Just outside here, I
had to go because apparently there's a
restaurant here that we can take a look
at, but you have to get through it from
the outside. So the hotel also has a
restaurant serving breakfast and dinner,
supervised by a Japanese culinary
specialist, Ai Hosokawa. With an
international cuisine using seasonal
Japanese ingredients!
Okay, so the restaurant is right here but
I can't get in so I guess I'll just have
to wait until the video when Wolfie and
Maiko and I come here. And there you go!
That's a first look at Nintendo's
original headquarters turned hotel. And
if you guys want to see more of this
hotel, don't worry I'll be doing another
video like I said so, if you guys want to
see that video or anything related to
Japan, hit that subscribe button and the
bell button, and I'll catch you guys in
the next one! :D