Tokyo a Cultural Guide. John H. Martin
monument to Wright's genius to an untimely end in 1967. Then it was razed for the new high-rise Imperial Hotel and its later tower addition, both in the international style of the late twentieth century. A "Society to Protect the Imperial Hotel" had been organized in 1967, but the Wright hotel closed its doors forever on November 15 of that year. A portion of the original Wright Building, including the forecourt, pond, and main lounge rooms, have been saved and scrupulously restored in Meiji-mura, the outdoor museum of Victorian architectural style in Japan near Gifu City. Again, here is one of those ironies of history since this post-Meiji era unit was built in the succeeding Taisho era and in a prehistoric Mayan architectural style, and is now saved among the Victorian architectural artifacts of Japan's early modern period which has been designated as the Meiji period (1868-1912).
The post-1968 Imperial Hotel provides the latest in luxury accommodations: it has a coffee shop and restaurants as well as an arcade of shops on the lower level. Among its unexpected amenities is a swimming pool on the nineteenth floor. It is a far cry from the original Imperial Hotel of a mere one hundred rooms. In 1983 an additional unit, the Imperial Tower, was added to the 1970s building, and its first four floors are given over to very expensive luxury shops. The later Imperial Hotel is overpowering in its attempt at grandeur and has the ambience of an international airport terminal striving for recognition.
Just to the north of the Imperial Hotel on Hibiya-dori is the 1963 Nissei-Hibiya Building which contains the 1,334-seat Nissei Theater. The theater offers ballet, opera in season, and concerts and movies at other times. It provides a rather showy theater interior with its ceiling flecked with mother-of-pearl, its walls of glass mosaics and lights flashing within the walls and ceiling. Its lobby boasts an art deco ceiling and a marble floor, making it as theatrical as some of the entertainment which appears in it.
Behind the Nissei-Hibiya Building is the Takarazuka Theater on the side street to the left of the Imperial Hotel. The street is now known as Theater Street, its sidewalks increased in width and its roadway narrowed in order to handle the festive crowds attending the theaters along its length. In the period of the United States military occupation of Japan after 1945, this theater served as the Ernie Pyle Theater for American troops, named for the famed World War II correspondent who was killed on Iwo Jima. The Ernie Pyle served as a movie-and-stage theater for almost a decade, its operation giving an exceedingly large Japanese staff employment which might not otherwise have been available to them in those post-war days. The theater was restored to civilian control as the Occupation ended.
The theater was eventually returned to Japanese control, and its spectacular music and dance extravaganzas in which all the parts, male and female, are taken by young women, were resumed after a wartime and post-war hiatus. Aside from the stage with its multiple possible uses, there is a hanamichi (flower path), as in Kabuki theaters, which joins the stage at the ginbashi (silver bridge). This brings the performers in closer contact with the audience. The Takarazuka revues are offered in the most lavish settings and ornate costumes, and these revues by this Osaka-based theatrical company have immense appeal for adolescent Japanese girls and middle-aged matrons. The attraction of the theater can be attested to by an incident from the war years: when the theater was closed for wartime reasons on March 4,1944, the crowd was so large and in danger of becoming unruly that the police unsheathed their swords to maintain order.
Continuing to the east on the street which runs alongside the Imperial Hotel, one arrives at the International Arcade, which extends under the overhead railroad right-of-way. The International Arcade extends for one street in either direction as an enclosed market with a variety of goods meant to appeal to tourists: from electronic gear to new and used kimonos to souvenir items of great diversity. The shops are open from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. (until 6:00 P.M. on Sundays) and some offer tax-free shopping. To the north and still under the elevated structure are the yakitori stalls which are favored for snacks by both visitors and Tokyo residents.
At Harumi-dori to the north of the International Arcade and to the west of the overhead rail line is the Tourist Information Center on the south side of the street. Here maps, brochures, and general information for all of Japan may be obtained from English-speaking staff. The office is open weekdays from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and on Saturdays from 9:00 A.M. to noon. Across the street is the Hibiya Park Building, and in its northeast corner on the street parallel to Harumi-dori is the American Pharmacy, which offers American pharmaceutical supplies and can fill prescriptions. It is open from 9:00 A.M; to 7:00 P.M. Monday through Saturday and from 11:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Sundays.
At the intersection of Harumi and Hibiya-dori are stairs down to several subway lines: the Chiyoda Line, the Toei Mita Line, and the Hibiya Line, while a passageway connects to the Yurakucho Line. An underground passage runs a mile to the east under Harumi-dori from Hibiya Park, and it ends at the Shimbashi Embujo Theater and the Ginza Tokyu Hotel. There are numerous exits to the street along the way.
THE Marunouchi financial district of Tokyo, which was explored in Tour 1, has been described as the one time site of the mansions of the Inner Lords of the Tokugawa shoguns from 1603 to 1868. Just to the north of Marunouchi is the Otemachi district which also held the mansions of the Tokugawa's most trusted daimyo. This section is circumscribed by the main railway tracks on the east (to the north of Tokyo Central Station), by Uchibori-dori (Inner Moat Street) before the former castle walls on the west, by Eitai-dori on the south, and by the modern Shuto (Metropolitan) Expressway on the north. The mansions of the feudal daimyo have long since disappeared from Otemachi, and today Otemachi is the home of the "daimyo" of big business, for here may be found the offices of many banks, insurance agencies, and major commercial corporations.
The district is well served by subway and rail lines since Tokyo Central Station is just to the south of the district while the various Otemachi stations of the Toei Mita Line, the Hibiya Line, the Tozai Line, the Marunouchi Line, and the Hanzomon Line all exit into the area. The Marunouchi subway exit brings one to the first point of interest on this tour: the 1964 eight-story Teishin Building, which houses the Communications Museum on the first four floors of the building. Anyone interested in the various forms of modern communications will enjoy this museum, for the exhibits include matters pertaining to postal, telegraph, telephone, and other forms of telecommunication. Here one will find an extensive display of postage stamps (more than 200,000), thus it comes as no surprise to learn that there is a relationship with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The museum is open from 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. daily except Mondays. The exhibits are only labeled in Japanese, but an English language brochure is available upon request.
Across the street and further east toward the railway right-of-way is the NTT Telecommunications Science Hall. Here the wonders of the modern world of computers can be discovered through displays and the opportunity to use computers. This hall of science has an unusual host to welcome visitors: a mechanical robot.
An unusual location can be found in the midst of this modern area of Tokyo. On leaving the Communications Museum, the east-west street should be taken to the west toward the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Just before Uchibori-dori and the Otebori moat at the former castle grounds, surrounded by the Mitsui Bussan Building, the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, and the Sanwa Bank, is a small, open space upon which no modern financial organization has dared to build.
Here is the Hill of Masakado's Head, a shrine at what was once the top of the bay when the Marunouchi and adjoining areas were still under water. The object of veneration worshiped by the early fishermen of Edo at this shrine was Taira-no-Masakado, a headstrong warrior of the 900s. He not only took over eight counties in the Kanto (Tokyo) region, but he set himself up in his domains as the new emperor in defiance of Kyoto's traditional emperor, whose claim to the throne was said to be verified by the divine origin of one of his ancestors. As the old adage would have it, pride comes before a fall, and in 940 Masakado fell in battle. As was the custom of that and later times, the rebel's head was severed and sent to Kyoto as proof of the death of this usurper to royal power. True to his headstrong ways, it is said that Masakado's head flew back to Edo in one night to rejoin its body