Elegant Tokyo Station Hotel Is Fit For Royalty; Marks 110 Years Since Opening This November

By Masanori Matsumoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

13:44 JST, November 11, 2025

The carpeted hallway stretches on straight ahead. Antique-style lamps line the walls, casting a gentle light on the ceiling and floor. Time passes slowly in this elegant space inside a major train terminal used by 1 million people daily.

The Tokyo Station Hotel stands inside Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi Station Building, which has been designated as one of Japan’s Important Cultural Properties, in Chiyoda Ward. The prestigious hotel opened for business in 1915, one year after the station went into operation, and is run by Nippon Hotel Co., a company in the JR East Group.

In the prewar days, the hotel’s guestrooms were situated on the second and third floors on the south side from the center of the station building. However, the dome roof and the third floor burned down in an air raid in 1945, so the hotel was centered on the second floor after the war ended.

In 2007, the hotel closed while the station building underwent major renovations. It reopened in 2012 after a full refurbishment. Guestrooms now occupy the second, third and part of the fourth floors.

“Two-thirds of the station building is occupied by hotel facilities, including guestrooms and restaurants,” Takako Akiho, the hotel’s public relations officer, explained as she showed me around the building. I hadn’t known that most of the red brick station building was taken up by the hotel.

Akiho guided me to the “archive balcony,” an observation area on the third floor. This spot offers a view through glass of the interior of the station building’s iconic dome roof. I stood close to a huge window and gazed up at the vast open space.

A round relief shaped like a wheel adorns the center of the dome’s ceiling. Flowers crafted from plaster are positioned around the wheel’s outer edge, resembling white lace.

“Those are clematis flowers,” Akiho told me. “They’re also known as ‘traveler’s joy,’ which is perfect for a station.”

At the base of eight pillars radiating out from the clematis are reliefs of Steller’s sea eagles. The outstretched wings of these birds extend about 2.1 meters from end to end. The ears of rice grasped in their feet reportedly represent a wish for an abundant harvest.

The dome ceiling is 27 meters above the ground — tall enough to fit a Shinkansen car standing vertically. The intricate details of the clematis and the eagles’ impressive scale can’t be fully appreciated from the first-floor ticket gate; the view from the balcony is indeed a special treat just for the hotel’s guests.

My next stop was the 173-square-meter Imperial Suite, the hotel’s most luxurious guest room, which includes separate dining and living areas and a bedroom. Its name comes from the fact that the now Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita used the suite as a waiting room while visiting for a ceremony to mark the completed renovation of the station’s Marunouchi side plaza in 2017.

Akiho carefully opened the curtains of the living room’s large window. Gyoko-dori Avenue stretched out straight before me, and the view continued right down to the trees of the Imperial Palace. Beyond the trees stood several towering buildings. I stood there for a while and soaked up a view that resembled a landscape painting.

In November, the hotel marks 110 years since its opening. “We want to help our guests create wonderful memories for the next 100 years, too,” Akiho said. “It’s our mission to carry on the history of this hotel.”