TOKYO Once one of the trendiest hotels in Japan, The Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka—which was scheduled for closure and demolition next month—will now host some 1,600 evacuees from the area near Fukushima’s stricken nuclear power plant.
The Tokyo government is collaborating with Prince Hotels Inc. to house the refugees in the hotel’s 700 guestrooms. The hotel will welcome its long-term guests sometime in April until the end of June, according to The Japan Times. Prince Hotels approached the Tokyo government with the idea.
The hotel, which opened in 1955, was one of Tokyo’s most popular hotspots during the 1980s. Prince has now delayed its demolition of the aging property until after June.