Imperial Hotel, Tokyo 1916. Watanabe's Imperial Hotel building was destroyed by fire on 16 April 1922, while Edward, Prince of Wales was visiting Japan. The fire broke out during the day, with a full staff on hand and most of the guests out at an Imperial garden party. No lives were lost, but business at the hotel stopped until the South wing of the new hotel could be opened. The second Imperial Hotel was built from 1919–1923, and officially opened on 1 September 1923. This hotel was the best-known of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Japan. It was designed roughly in the shape
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo (French) food had been the official banquet fare of the Imperial Palace since Emperor Meiji hosted a luncheon for the nephew of the king of Italy on 8 September 1873, and the Imperial Hotel followed that tradition. Japan's first Diet building, just finished on 24 November 1890 in time for the first Diet session, burned down on 20 January 1891. After a week of preparations, the House of Peers reconvened in the ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, where they would meet until March 1. Business was slow at first, and the hotel lost money. Even after the U.S. annexed the