When you travel, a hotel does more than provide a place to sleep. During a trip, you spend more time in your hotel than at any sightseeing spot or restaurant. You replay the day’s fun moments, great meals, and unexpected surprises, and drift off to sleep with tomorrow’s plans on your mind. Those quiet, precious hours are also etched into your memories of the journey.
Focusing on the value of “staying” is AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace, which opened in Daimyo, Fukuoka City, in July 2024. Though it’s an apartment hotel by format, what opens beyond the door is a one-of-a-kind living space. It offers guests a special experience of “staying as if you live there” that you simply do not get at a conventional hotel.
For more on AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace, click here
Then in May 2025, a new room was completed that embodies that philosophy in an even more minimal form: AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 702. The space is compact, but its design lets you feel the city’s energy and atmosphere more directly, comfortably narrowing the distance between traveler and city.
This time, through a conversation between Kitoshi Akenaga of Meiji Sangyo, who created AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 702, and Nick Szasz, editor-in-chief of Fukuoka Now, who has shared Fukuoka’s appeal with the world for a quarter of a century, we want to consider a new style of travel that emerges when the city and the place you stay are connected “seamlessly.”
PROFILE
Kitoshi Akenaga
Kitoshi Akenaga. Born in 1961. From Fukuoka City. After graduating from Kyushu Sangyo University, he joined an electronics manufacturer in Tokyo. Following the sudden death of his father, he returned to Fukuoka and joined Meiji Sangyo Co., Ltd. in 1986. At the young age of 25, he effectively took on the company’s management. He became President and Representative Director in 1999.
Nick Szasz
Born in 1960, from Toronto, Canada. After working as a company employee in Osaka and Tokyo, he returned to Canada once. He came back to Japan in 1990 and joined a software development company in Fukuoka. He later worked at the Fukuoka publisher Planning Shukosha before going independent. In 1998, he launched Fukuoka Now, a free information magazine for foreign residents, and established Fukuoka Now Ltd. In 2021, he started the live video streaming service Kyushu Live.
Staying in a Pure-White Room on the Top Floor of an Apartment Building
AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 702 is located on the top floor of a 35-year-old rental apartment building in Daimyo, Fukuoka City. Daimyo sits right next to Tenjin, Fukuoka’s biggest downtown area, and Tenjin and Daimyo together are often thought of as “around Tenjin,” a lively neighborhood where the flow of people never stops, day or night.
Room 702 is next to AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace, which opened last year. While Terrace is a spacious 3LDK, 140-square-meter space, Room 702 is a roughly 40-square-meter studio. The scale is different, but the uncompromising all-white spatial design is shared. The floor, ceiling, walls, and every piece of interior furniture, including the two double beds, are white. The only element that asserts the presence of “color” is the 75-inch TV mounted on the wall. The minimalist, open space, with nothing unnecessary, feels less like a hotel room and more like a refined art gallery.
With a kitchen equipped with an IH cooktop, microwave, and tableware, plus a dryer and washing machine, it is fully suited for longer stays.
The moment he stepped into the room, Nick’s eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “Unique! Original!”
“Big hotel chains are basically the same inside no matter where you stay in the world, so there’s no surprise or stimulation. But this is different. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary apartment building. Then you step inside and it’s like this. You never expect a space like this to open up inside. You’re excited and a little nervous until you open the door, and the instant you walk in, the impact is so strong it completely takes you. I think this is a room that exists only here in the world.”
As he listens to Nick describe his first impression of Room 702, Akenaga smiles.
“With Terrace, the first room we created, we felt we had succeeded in producing a one-of-a-kind lodging experience. But the price was set at 160,000 to 200,000 yen per night, so the starting point for Room 702 was the desire to create a room in a more accessible price range. The number of rooms and the size are different, but the concept is the same for both Terrace and Room 702: a space that is exciting just to be in, and comfortable to spend time in.”
Terrace and Room 702 were designed by the same team, with the concept of “creating new living environments.” Terrace, with its spacious living room, is not only defined by its white-based design, but also by meticulous attention to lighting, sound, and plantings. The result is a space that offers a new sensation, where you begin to lose track of whether you are inside or outside, in the city or surrounded by nature. Drawn to that one-of-a-kind space, one Taiwanese family reportedly stayed for 40 consecutive nights. (And apparently, that same guest has already booked the same stay again for the following year.)
Room 702, designed under the same concept as Terrace, is priced from 18,800 yen per room on weekdays, and from 38,200 yen per room on Saturdays and the night before public holidays. Because we heard the price after seeing the room, the affordability was surprising. At this price point, it is an appealing option not only for inbound travelers, but also for domestic travelers who want a base in Fukuoka where they can stay as if they live there.
Feeling Local Life While Staying in Comfort
As “traveling as if you live there” becomes more common, demand has been rising nationwide for “apartment hotels” that do not have shared facilities such as restaurants, but instead provide kitchens and appliances in each room. In Fukuoka City too, openings have been happening one after another, and these properties are said to be especially popular with inbound visitors planning medium- to long-term stays. Why do they choose apartment hotels rather than traditional hotels?
Nick offers the following view.
“Many inbound guests who use apartment hotels are seasoned travelers. For them, the full-service attentiveness of a hotel concierge can feel like too much. Instead, they look for travel experiences that let them blend into the city and its people, and feel the realities of daily life in Japan. For example, they find value in using Japanese home appliances in the room, such as washing machines, dryers, and air purifiers, not as products seen at an electronics store, but as tools they can actually try while living in the space.”
Nick adds that for medium- to long-term stays, the importance of having a kitchen grows even further.
“Japanese food is wonderful, but if you eat out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a week, you do start to get tired of it. Just as Japanese people abroad start craving miso soup, inbound travelers also have a desire for the flavors they are used to. On top of that, there are travelers who want to use Japanese ingredients and try making Japanese food themselves. Having a kitchen gives them a great deal of freedom and creativity.”
“Personally, I don’t want to stay in a standard hotel when I travel. I want to spend my time in a space where the time in the room becomes part of the memory. Staying at Room 702 or Terrace is filled with comfort and stimulation you won’t find in a typical apartment hotel, while still letting you feel local life.”
In Fukuoka, “Staying as an Extension of the City” Has Special Meaning
AMP FLAT Daimyo is the first lodging facility Meiji Sangyo has ever created. But it was not simply an extension of a new business line. It was an answer that emerged naturally from the company’s long-standing work of “rebuilding the city.”
Starting from property management, Meiji Sangyo has been involved in “living and the community” from many angles, including renovation, architecture, support for town development, cultural projects, and even raising awareness around ethical consumption. They give aging buildings and vacant properties new meaning and value, and help circulate urban resources organically. These activities connect to the rebuilding of Fukuoka as a “sustainable city.”
In that context, an opportunity arose to make free use of a property the company owns in Daimyo. The building has age, but its location and structure hold real potential. When they considered not surface-level returns, but rather “what kind of use would truly be meaningful for the city,” what they arrived at was a lodging space where you can “stay as an extension of the city.”
Kitoshi Akenaga, President of Meiji Sangyo, explains it this way.
“At the root of my thinking, I’ve always had a desire to be useful to people by creating something that does not yet exist in the world. From that perspective, I felt Fukuoka is decisively lacking in accommodations that connect you to local everyday life. Precisely because this is in the middle of Daimyo, a downtown entertainment district, we saw the potential of a stay where you can blend into the city. In other words, rather than ‘we decided to run a hotel business,’ it may be more accurate to say ‘we arrived at a hotel as the optimal solution for making use of the city’s resources.’”
Nick analyzes why the phrase “staying as an extension of the city,” which Akenaga used, has an especially large meaning in a city like Fukuoka.
“Fukuoka is often spoken of negatively as having few tourist attractions, but I think that is also part of its appeal. Even without going to the so-called tourist spots, it’s a city where it’s easy to feel the ‘cool Japanese urban life’ that inbound visitors imagine. There are lots of parks right in the center of the city, and everyday events like flea markets and outdoor events are held. The response from foreigners is very positive, and when we post event listings on Fukuoka Now, we see strong access.”
“The best way to feel the atmosphere of everyday city life is to walk. In that respect, Fukuoka’s strength is that it’s a compact city you can explore within walking distance. On top of that, the standard of restaurants is high, and many places have counter seats that are easy to walk into alone. So you can enjoy casual bar hopping.”
“Have you ever enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime conversation with locals sitting next to you at an izakaya or yatai, then made your way back pleasantly tipsy, only to have the spell broken by arriving at a hotel front desk? AMP FLAT Daimyo looks like a common apartment building you could find anywhere in Japan, so you can come home still wrapped in the city’s air, with a feeling like you’re returning to your own place.
From the window, you see an everyday city view, yet the room design is bold and you can stay comfortably. Everyday and extraordinary, city and hotel, connect seamlessly. That is what I think is great about AMP FLAT Daimyo.”
“That is exactly what we intended by making this property into a hotel. Because Room 702 is priced to be easy to use, we hope not only foreigners but also Japanese travelers will use it with the feeling of coming home, and experience what it’s like to live in the city of Fukuoka.”
To Make Fukuoka an Even More “Happy Hill” City
A stay at AMP FLAT Daimyo, where you remain connected to the city. Let’s turn our attention to the city of Fukuoka itself, the stage for that experience. Nick first came to Japan in 1985, and has lived in Fukuoka since 1990 for more than 30 years, continuing to share the city’s appeal. How does he see Fukuoka today?
“The overseas cities I love share something in common: it’s fun simply to walk around. I’m drawn to cities where you can experience the place itself without doing anything special. Melbourne, Vancouver, Taipei, Barcelona are like that. To enjoy a city while feeling its air, it’s important that it’s walkable, and Fukuoka fits that condition.”
Fukuoka has strengths beyond that as well. For example, it has a port where cruise ships dock. It has a transport network that makes it easy to venture out into other parts of Kyushu. And most of all, it has an exceptional food scene with strong cost performance.
“As you walk around Fukuoka, you’ll notice that even in the city center there are many independently run restaurants. Because they compete in a high-level market where ‘good and affordable’ is the baseline, there’s less room for chain stores to push in, and that probably makes the cityscape more distinctive. I think that’s a sign of a very rich city.”
Nick describes Fukuoka’s charm as a “Happy Hill” city, playing on the meaning of the kanji.
“There are certainly strategic initiatives behind the wave Fukuoka is riding right now, but there are also many ways in which the city is simply fortunate. That is exactly why, if everyone understands the city’s appeal and potential, and we become more intentional about improving and communicating it, Fukuoka can become an even more ‘Happy Hill’ city.”
At the same time, Nick also shares his view on the overtourism issues occurring across Japan.
“If visitor numbers keep increasing simply because we rely on these favorable conditions, overtourism could become a serious issue in Fukuoka too. Fukuoka’s appeal is found in daily life: the walkable functionality that lets you enjoy the city itself, the food culture of distinctive independent shops, and the ease of access to destinations across Kyushu. It’s important to communicate those ‘urban charms found within everyday life’ carefully, and to build relationships that help visitors notice the city’s depth, something you understand only when you stay longer. Apartment hotels like AMP FLAT Daimyo can become a base that embodies that value.”
The Third AMP FLAT Daimyo Room Is Nearly Complete
Believing in Fukuoka’s urban strength and expressing that potential through lodging spaces, President Akenaga is also eager about the next development for the AMP FLAT Daimyo series. That is the third room following AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace and AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 702: AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 701. Renovation is underway with the goal of opening in November.
In contrast to Terrace and Room 702, which are thoroughly committed to white, Room 701’s theme color is black. It will also feature mechanisms that project visuals, like projection mapping, onto floors and walls that incorporate Japanese elements such as Ryukyu tatami and shoji screens.
The apartment hotel created by renovating a Daimyo apartment building, which began with AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace, will reach a pause point with the completion of Room 701. Even before it is finished, we asked Akenaga about what might come further ahead.
“Because this apartment building is in the very center of Fukuoka’s downtown, it had meaning to create a hotel with the concept of ‘staying as an extension of the city.’ We do not want to expand a hotel business. If in the future we have the good fortune to acquire an excellent property through some connection, we want to consider, based on its relationship with the city, what kind of space would be best. It might become a hotel, or it might not. I always want to be a first penguin, so whatever the final form ends up being, we will likely think in terms of a different concept and design.”
Nick proposes ways to use AMP FLAT Daimyo beyond simply exploring Fukuoka through a long stay.
“For many Western visitors, a trip to Japan is their second or third time. If they stay long-term at an apartment hotel like Terrace or Room 702, first feel the air of the city of Fukuoka, then I’d like them to extend their trip a bit to discover the deeper appeal of Kyushu. For example, visiting pottery kilns in Karatsu, Hasami, Arita, or Imari, or going to feel the vast nature of Aso. I’d like them to use Fukuoka as a base and set out on a Kyushu trip that follows their interests.”
“The spacious living space and kitchen at AMP FLAT Daimyo Terrace seem usable for more than just lodging. In the past, I invited a chef and some foreign acquaintances and held a catering party at Terrace, and it was very well received. Calling in a catering service where a chef prepares sushi and throwing a sushi party during a long stay would be popular with inbound guests, I think. The space itself is refined and uncluttered, so when there are no guests it could also be used as a gallery. Depending on the ideas, it feels like a space that can respond to many different needs.”
“Not staying at a hotel, but staying in the city.” A stay at AMP FLAT Daimyo lets you feel the charm of Fukuoka gently, yet unmistakably. We hope you will experience for yourself the new kind of travel that is born in the space between city and journey.
Photography: Shogo Higashino
Facility Overview
Facility name: AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 702 (AMP FLAT Daimyo 702)
Address: Urban Villa Daimyo, Room 702, 1-3-35 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Total floor area: 40.95 m²
Access
Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line: 7 minutes on foot from Akasaka Station
Nishitetsu Tenjin Omuta Line: 10 minutes on foot from Nishitetsu Fukuoka Station
Room details
Two double beds / One shower room / One toilet / Laundry area (washing machine, dryer) / Compact kitchen (IH cooktop, microwave, tableware and cutlery) / Wi-Fi / TV, plus amenities
Capacity: Up to 4 guests
Price
(Excl. tax) 18,800 yen (weekdays) / 38,200 yen (Sundays and the night before public holidays) and up (both are per room, per night)
How to book
Book via AMP FLAT Fukuoka, Airbnb, and other accommodation booking portals
AMP FLAT Fukuoka (https://ampflat.airhost.co/)
EDITORIAL NOTE
Afterword
Kohei Kondo, Editor
Starting from Tenjin, where commercial buildings and office towers cluster together, you enter the Daimyo area and walk a little over 10 minutes to AMP FLAT Daimyo, passing apparel shops and restaurants along the way. Even during that short walk, you can feel the atmosphere of Fukuoka’s city streets. If you need anything during your stay, convenience stores are close by, and the area has plenty of restaurants open until late at night. The “stay connected directly to the city” experience offered by Meiji Sangyo through AMP FLAT Daimyo may be an especially valuable concept precisely because Japan is safe even late at night, and Fukuoka is a compact city.
We still have not been able to see inside AMP FLAT Daimyo Room 701. But just from the fragments we have heard so far, such as “this time black is the base,” “Japanese elements expressed through Ryukyu tatami and shoji,” and “you can also enjoy projection mapping,” we are already very intrigued.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Japanese on the QUALITIES website. This English version has been prepared by Fukuoka Now for our international readers.
