The Tower Hotel Nagoya

Checking Into a 1954 Television Tower

Most hotels borrow a view. THE TOWER HOTEL NAGOYA borrows a landmark. The property occupies the first five floors of what was once Nagoya TV Tower, a 1954 structure engineered by Tachu Naito, the pioneer of Japan's earthquake-resistant design, and now reopened as an intimate, art-driven hotel at the centre of Sakae. Exposed steel from the original tower frame still runs through the public spaces, next to works by regional artists and craft pieces drawn from the Tokai region's textile traditions, a deliberate pairing of engineering heritage and contemporary design.

Why It Works

We chose THE TOWER HOTEL NAGOYA because there is nothing else quite like it: a Small Luxury Hotels of the World member built inside a working broadcast tower, with only fifteen rooms and a guests-only night salon that few city hotels can match. The ART x CRAFT x LOCAL concept is not a marketing line, it shapes the art on the walls, the tableware at dinner and the textiles chosen for the rooms, down to the smallest details most guests never think to ask about.

Why This Location

The hotel sits in Sakae, Nagoya's central downtown district, with the tower itself functioning as a landmark visible across the city. Shopping streets, restaurants and Hisaya-odori Park unfold at the base of the building, putting the whole of central Nagoya within walking distance, while the observation levels above the hotel floors keep the skyline close at hand without leaving the property. Few addresses in the city combine that convenience with the sense of occasion the tower provides.

Fast Facts

• Prix : €€€€

• Vibe : art filled, intimate, architectural

• Chambres : 15 rooms, including two 80 square metre suites on the top floor

• Best For : design and architecture lovers, couples seeking a landmark stay, travellers who want Nagoya's skyline as a backdrop

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel : the guests-only observation salon, open until 2am over Sakae's lights

• Dining : Glycine, a French restaurant serving dinner to the public and a Japanese breakfast exclusive to guests; lily café on the second floor

• Amenities : Small Luxury Hotels of the World member, rotating regional art displays, locally sourced tableware and produce

• Attractions : Hisaya-odori Park (at the base of the tower), Sakae shopping and dining district (walking distance), Nagoya Castle (short taxi ride)

Fifteen Rooms, No Two Alike

Thirteen individually designed rooms occupy the fourth floor, each built around different pieces of Tokai craft, from Arimatsu shibori tie-dye textiles to Nagoya yuzen dyeing. The fifth floor holds just two suites, each roughly 80 square metres, with views over Sakae that most hotels in the district cannot offer at any price. The small room count keeps the hotel closer to a private residence than a conventional tower property, and it means staff know most guests by name within a day.

Dinner With a View of the Steel Frame

Glycine, the hotel's fourth-floor restaurant, runs a French menu open to outside diners for lunch and dinner, built around produce sourced from across the region and served on tableware made by local artisans. Guests alone get access to a Japanese breakfast built around Ryu no Hitomi, a rice variety prized for its size and flavour. A second café, lily, adds a quieter stop on the second floor for guests who want something lighter between museum visits in Sakae.

Built By the Engineer Who Tamed Earthquakes

The tower itself predates the hotel by seven decades. Completed in 1954 under Tachu Naito, the engineer whose earthquake-resistant designs shaped much of postwar Japanese architecture, the structure has outlasted its original role as a television transmitter to become a protected piece of Nagoya's skyline. Staying inside it means sleeping inside a monument rather than simply looking at one from a hotel window elsewhere in the city, and waking up to a view no other address in Nagoya can claim.