Hotel New Otani Tokyo

Hotel New Otani Tokyo
Hotel New Otani Tokyo - original 1964 "The Main" wing in foreground, 1974 "Garden Tower" in background.

General information
Location	Tokyo, Japan
Address	4-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-Ku
Coordinates	35°40′52″N 139°44′03″E
Opening	1964
Management	New Otani Hotels
Other information
Number of rooms	1479
Number of restaurants	39
Website
Official website

Construction of the hotel was requested by the Japanese government in the early 1960s, in order to fill a perceived shortage of hotel space for foreign visitors to the upcoming 1964 Summer Olympics. Yonetaro Otani, a former sumo wrestler who founded and ran a small steel company, agreed to build the hotel on a site he owned.^[1] It had formerly been the site of the Fushimi-no-miya family residence in the Kioicho district of Tokyo (and before that, the residence of samurai lord Katō Kiyomasa).^[2] The 1,085-room hotel was built in seventeen months using a number of techniques that were revolutionary in Japan at the time, such as curtain walls and prefabricated unit bathrooms. The 400-year-old garden on the site was retained as part of the hotel.^[1] The hotel was first announced under a management contract with Sheraton Hotels as the Otani-Sheraton Hotel.^[3] However, by the time of its completion, the arrangement was no longer in place,^[a] and the hotel opened as The New Otani on 1 September 1964, to coincide with the Olympics the following month.

The New Otani was the tallest building in Tokyo from 1964 until 1968, when the Kasumigaseki Building was completed. It took on an iconic status during this period, particularly for its unique revolving restaurant on the highest floor. During this time, the building was a filming location for the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, where it appeared as the headquarters of Osato Chemical & Engineering Co Ltd, the Japanese front for Ernst Stavro Blofeld's SPECTRE organization. The New Otani was greatly expanded in 1974,^[4] when the 40-storey Garden Tower opened. A third building, the 30-storey Garden Court office tower, opened in 1991.^[4] The original 1964 building, today referred to as "The Main", was extensively renovated and remodelled in 2007, when it was given a modern glass facade.

In a reference to the three Edo era branch houses of the Tokugawa clan, the Imperial Hotel, the Hotel Okura Tokyo, and the Hotel New Otani Tokyo are often referred to as one of the Three Great Hotels (御三家, gosanke) of Tokyo.

Records
Preceded by National Diet Building	Tallest building in Japan 65 m (215 ft) 1964–1968	Succeeded by Kasumigaseki Building
Preceded by National Diet Building	Tallest building in Tokyo 65 m (215 ft) 1964–1968	Succeeded by Kasumigaseki Building

Records
Preceded by National Diet Building	Tallest building in Japan 65 m (215 ft) 1964–1968	Succeeded by Kasumigaseki Building
Preceded by National Diet Building	Tallest building in Tokyo 65 m (215 ft) 1964–1968	Succeeded by Kasumigaseki Building

Hotel New Otani Tokyo

History

Notable guests

Images

Notes

References

External links

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