Muji Hotel Opens in Tokyo’s Ginza District
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Muji stores are popular for their clothing, accessories, furniture, and other houseware items made with simple designs and natural materials. The Muji brand is well-known overseas as well, and today Muji operates 975 stores in Japan and abroad (as of February 2019). On April 4 of this year Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., which manages the Muji brand, opened a global flagship store, Muji Ginza, a hotel, Muji Hotel Ginza, and other facilities in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district.
The Muji Hotel is a hotel brand handled by Ryohin Keikaku and launched in China in 2018. Muji Hotel Ginza is the third worldwide, following hotels in Shenzen and Beijing, but the first in Japan. Based on the concept of “anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap,” it aims to provide accommodation enabling guests to sleep well at reasonable prices and, even though they are traveling, relax in a homelike atmosphere. The following is an introduction to this new type of hotel that invites guests to experience the Muji ethos.
The exterior of Yomiuri Namiki-dori Building, which has opened in Tokyo's Ginza area and houses the Muji Ginza store and Muji Hotel Ginza. (Photo: Nikkei Architecture)
The Muji brand was launched in 1980 as a private brand of Seiyu, a large supermarket chain. It started with 40 items—9 houseware goods and 31 food products— but then went on to develop a wide portfolio of cheap and quality products, based on the concept of “Lower priced for a reason” and following the key words of waste-free, simple, and natural. Today Ryohin Keikaku, which went independent from Seiyu in 1989, supplies more than 7,000 products, including furniture and clothing.
Some Muji items are used at the Muji Hotel Ginza for guest-room furnishings and amenities, so guests can enjoy the Muji world view while staying there. And the wonderful thing is that if there are any items that you especially like, you can just pop down to the Muji Ginza store and buy them.
