KARUIZAWA, Nagano – The Mampei Hotel in this central Japan resort town, known as the summer residence of John Lennon (1940-1980), has partially reopened and is welcoming guests for the first time in a year and a half.

Due to aging, the hotel had been closed for the first major renovation since it opened in 1894. The Alps Wing, the hotel’s landmark building built in 1936, is a registered national cultural asset and the hotel has tried to preserve its original appearance as much as possible.

Shinji Nishikawa, manager of the Mampei Hotel, commented: “This year we celebrate our 130th anniversary. We have moved from the Meiji era (1868-1912) to the Reiwa era (2019-) and created a building that will impress guests with its new yet nostalgic flair.”

On August 16, the remodeled Atago Wing (30 guest rooms), main dining room (126 seats), café terrace (102 seats) and shop on the first floor of the Alps Wing reopened. The hotel will close again on September 24 to prepare for full reopening in October.

The second floor of the Alps Wing (12 guest rooms) and the Usui Wing (44 guest rooms) will reopen in the fall.

In the future, the hotel hopes to increase demand from overseas and expand the number of Japanese guests, who are mostly older, to include young people. General Manager Ichiro Sasaki said: “We wanted to bring back the staff who worked at the hotel before the closure, and we have succeeded. We can welcome guests again as before.”

The hotel was occupied by the US military from the end of World War II until 1952. Later, the writer Yukio Mishima and other Japanese personalities stayed there, and in 1972 a meeting between then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger took place here. Lennon regularly used the hotel as a summer residence in the late 1970s.

(Japanese original by Shinichi Sariishi, Nagano Bureau)