The compound of the Shiroiya Hotel is not only the first hotel designed entirely by Sou Fujomoto in Japan (where he is already working on the creation of the Expo Site for Osaka 2025 and the Torch Tower in Tokyo) but also the first art place in the small town of Maebashi City (Gunma prefecture), known for its silk production and the birthplace of entrepreneur Hitoshi Tanaka, whose mission is to revitalize or rather revolutionize it entirely.

With a fortune in the field of eyewear thanks to the JINS brand, a colossus of eyewear (which boasts collaborations with names such as Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic and the Bouroullec brothers), Tanaka has always demonstrated great sensitivity and passion for design and architecture. The Shiroiya Hotel opened its doors just over a month ago and, like his company, features a series of interventions by prestigious personalities including Michele De Lucchi, Jasper Morrison or the Argentinean Leandro Erlich as well as great artists such as Hiroshi Sugimoto or Tatsuo Miyajima.

For the next five years, a number of other large-scale interventions have already been planned, with contributions from compatriots Akihisa Hirata, Yuko Nagayama, Junya Ishigami, Makoto Tanijiri for the development of the urban fabric, the creation of more structures that will host small stores (dear to the Japanese), restaurants and state-of-the-art offices. The hotel – whose restaurant serves delicious “glocal cuisine” is truly unmissable – will act as a hub to transform the whole of Maebashi into a small capital of creativity.