JAPANESE supermarket operator Kobe Bussan will branch out into the international hotel sector by opening a Japanese-style property in New York City in 2017.
The 91-room new hotel, to be located on 54th Street in a seven-storey building that will also feature a traditional Japanese garden, will provide accommodation at “reasonable prices”, and target groups of tourists and families.
A number of rooms will have tatami floor mats, while all bathrooms will be fitted with the deep bathtubs common in Japan, as well as heated toilet seats that incorporate bidet functions. The hotel restaurant will serve Japanese cuisine.
Kobe Bussan opened the Shabu Shabu Kobe Japanese restaurant in Manhattan last September, and the company’s management said it is keen to continue to promote other forms of authentic Japanese culture.
A spokesperson for the project told TTG Asia e-Daily the cuisine and culture that are portrayed as Japanese in many other countries are frequently very different to the reality.
“New York is one of the biggest cities in the world and we consider it to be the ideal place to inform people of Japanese culture and to expand our concept,” she explained.
