[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]

[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]

[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

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[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]

[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