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
Hotel Okura Tokyo and has also provided catering to international summits held off-site. In 1976 JVC chose the Okura Hotel for the launch of the world's first VHS videocassette recorder. The hotel grounds also host the Okura Museum of Art, which houses a collection of Japanese and East-Asian Art amassed by industrialist Ōkura Kihachirō. In a reference to the three Edo era branch houses of the Tokugawa clan, the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, Hotel Okura Tokyo, and Hotel New Otani Tokyo are often referred to as one of the of Tokyo. The original Main Wing closed in August 2015 for demolition, leaving only the