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 (company) Imperial Hotel (company) On November 28, 1887, Kihachiro Okura and Eiichi Shibusawa submitted an application to form a new company called Yugen Sekinin Tokyo Hoteru (Tokyo Hotel Co.), in order to "build a large hotel in Tokyo and to conduct the business of renting rooms to foreign guests, and for parties and other events...". There were initially 21 investors, with the largest (21.15%) being the Imperial Household Ministry. Site preparation for the first Imperial Hotel started in July 1888, and construction was begun in the fall of that year. On 7 July 1890, with the hotel almost complete, the name