Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for FUTATABI FUTABA FUKUSHIMA, One of the Region’s Largest Conference Hotels, Set to Open in Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture

DAIWA LIFENEXT CO., LTD. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Keitaro Takebayashi; hereinafter “the Company”), a member of the Daiwa House Group, held a groundbreaking ceremony on August 26, 2024 to mark the start of construction of FUTATABI FUTABA FUKUSHIMA, which will be one of the region’s largest conference hotels*. The new conference hotel is set to open in the Nakano District Reconstruction Industrial Hub in Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture.
* A hotel with conference capabilities enabling meetings, study, etc. within the facility.


■ Background to the Project
In October 2023, the Company concluded a business location agreement for the Nakano District Reconstruction Industrial Hub with Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture. The new conference hotel, to be located adjacent to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum and Fukushima 3.11 Memorial Park (planned for future development), will be capable of hosting tourists, including inbound travelers, and attracting international conferences. By opening this hotel, the Company aims to help revitalize the regional economy.
Reference: Notice Concerning DAIWA LIFENEXT and the Fukushima Prefecture Town of Futaba Signing a Business Location Agreement (press release issued in November 2023)
https://www.daiwalifenext.co.jp/news/245.html
 
■ Concept of FUTATABI FUTABA FUKUSHIMA
The new conference hotel’s concept is as follows: We want to once again take back the nature and industry of Futaba (regeneration). We want to once again encounter the people and charms of this town (reunion). We want guests to want to come back to this place again (revisit). The conference hotel was named FUTATABI FUTABA FUKUSHIMA in the hope that it will bring about many repeated experiences and attract many returning visitors to Futaba.
Mr. Kazoo Sato, Chief Creative Sustainability Officer of TBWA\HAKUHODO Inc., will serve as design supervisor and advisor for all buildings, while Mr. Yoshitaka Haba, President of BACH Ltd., will be in charge of book direction for the library to be established in a shared facility building. The building complex will provide a place of relaxation and learning to guests.
 
【Mr. Kazoo Sato, TBWA\HAKUHODO Inc.】
Mr. Sato is the Chief Creative Sustainability Officer of TBWA\HAKUHODO Inc. He was born in 1973. Following graduation from university, he worked for a major record label and a foreign-owned advertising agency. In 2009, Mr. Sato joined TBWA\HAKUHODO Inc. As an industry-leading creative director, he has undertaken numerous well-known projects in product design, architecture, music videos, and stage production, in addition to advertising. Campaign magazine honored Mr. Sato with the Asia Creator of the Year award. He holds a master’s degree in environmental science and is a researcher at the Innovations for Co-creating Future Society Laboratory of the Graduate School of System Design and Management of Keio University.
 
【Mr. Yoshitaka Haba, BACH Ltd.】
Mr. Haba is the President of BACH Ltd. and a book director. He creates libraries in a variety of settings, including public libraries, hospitals, schools, hotels, and offices, in an effort to build bridges between people and books. He oversaw the creative direction of Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest, a library and cultural facility for children that Mr. Tadao Ando designed, built, and donated to the city of Osaka. Mr. Haba has recently been involved in the curation and shelving of books at the Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library), the launch of the Sapporo Municipal Library and Information Center, and JAPAN HOUSE in London, São Paulo, and Los Angeles. He was the organizer of donkou and appeared on the NHK Educational TV program “Ideal Bookbox, Your Private Library.”