The Okura Prestige Tower Lobby.
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
When the demolition of a hotel results in an international outcry, you know it has become more than just a place to stay; it is a destination in its own right, an emblem of the community it inhabits. As evidenced when the decision to tear down and rebuild Hotel Okura Tokyo, a towering symbol of Japanese modernism, was announced in 2015.
The brainchild of architect Yoshirō Taniguchi, the original Hotel Okura opened its doors Tokyo’s elegant Toranomon neighborhood in 1962 ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The Okura Tokyo: a towering emblem of Japanese modernism,
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Hotel Okura Tokyo Becomes The Okura Tokyo
More than five decades later, the announcement that the main building, including its iconic lobby, would be entirely rebuilt, led to protests, both domestically and internationally. However, few could could argue with the poetry of scheduling the reopening ahead of the second Tokyo Olympics. Sadly, the Games that were slated for 2020 were postponed until 2021 due to Covid, while Japan’s borders remained closed until October 2022. What followed was something nobody could have predicted: an unprecedented tourism boom that has seen Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto establish themselves among the world’s top travel destinations.
As for the renovation, The Okura, Tokyo, was reborn as both a tasteful homage to its predecessor and a state-of-the-art contemporary hotel. It now features seven bars and restaurants, including Yamazato’s superlative sushi counter and tea ceremony rooms, a fitness center that includes a 27th-floor panoramic gym, as well as a heated pool, saunas, and private treatment rooms, and tirelessly discreet, thoughtful service from a team of consummate hospitality pros.
Tea room at The Okura Tokyo.
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Leading Hotels Of The World
Now forming part of Leading Hotels of the World, The Okura, Tokyo, stands out as one of the most high-profile properties in this prestigious global collection of independent luxury hotels.
With striking interiors by Yoshio Taniguchi, the son of the original architect, the new, earthquake-proof structure comprises two gleaming towers: the ultra-exclusive 17-story Okura Heritage Wing, with its 140 rooms boasting an elegant, traditional Japanese design aesthetic, and the 41-story Prestige Tower with 368 contemporary guest rooms. Japanese craftsmanship is ever-present, from the revamped lobbies and common spaces, to the Heritage Wing guest rooms and The Okura Garden.
A King Room in the Okura Heritage Wing.
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Located on the north side of the Okura Heritage Wing, the garden was inspired by the kyokusui (meandering water) garden originally located on the 7th floor of the main building. The Japanese landscape features trees and stones replanted or relocated from the main building, including the Okura’s huge ginkgo tree and a camphor tree planted by Meiji-era Admiral Togo Heihachiro.
The Okura Tokyo: Design Icon
As for the much-beloved lobby that formed such a central part of the original hotel, it has been painstakingly recreated in what is now the Okura Prestige Tower Lobby. A design lover’s dream, it is packed with meticulously selected details including:
Okura lanterns suspended above The Okura Prestige Tower Lobby
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Okura Lanterns
Shaped like ornamental beads reminiscent of those first seen during the Kofun (Tumulus) era, the Okura lanterns consist of five strings of ornamental beads, each made up of ten pentagon-shaped plates. The restoration of these lanterns involved replacing the original light bulbs with LED lights for sustainability reasons. Through trial and error, the unique light generated by the original lanterns was eventually recreated.
Hemp Leaf Kumiko Lattices
Kumiko is a traditional Japanese woodworking technique used to create intricate geometric latticework patterns by joining thin strips of wood without nails or glue. Meanwhile, muntins are the thin, vertical and horizontal pieces of wood that form a pattern within that latticework and provide structure for fittings such as Shoji screens and Fusuma sliding doors that are used to partition rooms in a house. Lastly, hemp leaf is a treasured material that is believed to bring luck. During the restoration, the shiny black finish of the old wood was replaced with a plain-wood finish.
Four Petal Flowers Ornamental Textile
At the time of restoration, there were no records describing the production process for the ornamental textiles with their pattern of four petal flowers. While the original design drawings were recovered, the technique for embossing the textile with flowers had been lost. Trial and error was used until it was recreated based on the Four Petal Flowers tapestry in the original main building lobby.
Plum blossom lacquered tables and chairs in The Okura Prestige Tower Lobby
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Plum Blossom Lacquered Tables And Chairs
The iconic black- and vermilion-colored lacquered tables were designed to resemble the center of a plum blossom, surrounded by five chairs arranged to resemble the petals, when seen from above. During restoration, the tables were repaired, reinforced and re-lacquered, while the chairs were reupholstered and restored to their original brand-new appearance.
Bamboo Leaf Shoji
Designed by Seido Iwata, the first head of Sekiso School of Ikebana, a paper sliding door, called shoji in Japanese, shows the silhouette of bamboo leaves gently swaying outside the window on the translucent washi paper.
Large Flower vase with a sakura flower arrangement in The Okura Prestige Tower Lobby.
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Large Flower Vase
The hexagonal flower vase in the front of the lobby was created at the suggestion of the late Yoshiro Taniguchi. Adorned with Japanese flowers and trees of the season, the vase gives a dignified, graceful welcome to visitors arriving in the main entrance lobby.
World Clock
The famous Seiko Holdings Corp. world map and clock from the lobby of the main building of Hotel Okura Tokyo has been meticulously reformed, indicating the exact time in 86 cities across the six continents.
Other notable design features that can be found at The Okura, Tokyo include:
Thirty-six Immortals Of Poetry ʽ
The iconic panels of the “Sanjuroku-nin kashu” (Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry) that adorned the Heian Room, the largest banquet hall in the original Main Building, can now be found in the lobby of the new Okura Heritage Wing Lobby.
The Okura Heritage Wing Lobby
Image courtesy The Okura Tokyo
Diamond Pattern
The diamond pattern has been present in Japanese art since the ancient times, and is also the motif of the Okura family crest. The five-layered diamond can be observed in many spaces at The Okura Tokyo, including the foyer of the Okura Prestige Tower.
Wisteria Chandelier
A chandelier inspired by wisteria, an early summer flower present in Japan since ancient times. Formed as clusters of pale purple crystal glass, the original chandelier used to adorn the entrance to the banquet hall in the Main Building. The new chandelier, with its a modern, sophisticated design without a trellis can be found at the entrance to the banquet floor in The Okura Prestige Tower.
AloJapan.com