This post is still a Work in Progress
Tokyo is the capital of Japan and also the most populous region in the country. The so-called “Special Ward area,” an area consisting of 23 special wards and forming the core of the city, alone has, as of 2025, a population of approximately 9.8 million people, which is more than the population of the entire Kanagawa Prefecture. In particular, the area centered on the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward is Japan’s political center, where the National Diet Building, the Supreme Court, and the headquarters buildings of each ministry are located, and at the same time, it is the economic center with the country’s largest business districts such as Marunouchi and Otemachi.
Tokyo Station is located on the eastern edge of Chiyoda Ward. It is one of the busiest stations in Japan, with more than 4,000 trains arriving and departing every day. And it is said that more than one million people use the station daily. Tokyo Station is not just a train station, but a huge complex building that also houses a hotel and a gallery, and both inside and outside the ticket gates are filled with restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops in a maze-like pattern, making the area more like a city bustling with people than a station.
When you go out of Tokyo Station and want to explore, roughly speaking, you can either exit from the Yaesu side to the east side or exit from the Marunouchi side to the west side. The Yaesu and Marunouchi sides are connected by a central passageway, so you can freely move between the two sides without buying a ticket and going through the ticket gates. The Yaesu side has the Daimaru department store building in the center, and the Yaesu Underground Mall, one of the largest underground malls in Japan, spreads out underground. In addition, the huge building of Tokyo Midtown Yaesu opened in 2023. This area has been rapidly developing commercially in recent years. The Yaesu side is closest to the Shinkansen platforms, so people coming from other parts of Japan by Shinkansen might be more familiar with the Yaesu side than the Marunouchi side.
However, the highlight of Tokyo Station is undoubtedly the Marunouchi side, where the red-brick station facade exudes a retro atmosphere. This Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building is packed with Japan’s history from modern times to the present. When Tokyo Station first opened in 1914, there was no station building on the Yaesu side, and people coming from Nihonbashi or Kyobashi had no choice but to go around to the Marunouchi side by going under the elevated tracks. It was not until 1929, 15 years after the station’s opening, that a small station building was built on the Yaesu side.
It is well known that the Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building was designed by Tatsuno Kingo, known as the “father of modern Japanese architecture,” but not many people know that the original designer was Franz Baltzer, a German. (Incidentally, Tokyo Station was just called Chuo Teishajo, or the “Central Station,” during the design stage.) Baltzer’s idea was to line up small brick buildings on the side of the tracks, with Japanese-style roof tiles on their roofs. Baltzer himself seemed to think, “as it is a station that represents Japan, it is appropriate to use a uniquely Japanese architectural style.” But his design idea was rejected as being “too shabby for the central station of the imperial capital,” and Tatsuno Kingo was eventually asked to take over, with the request for “something more spectacular.”
It was December 1910 when Tatsuno completed all the design work for the building. It was nearly eight years since he had taken over from Baltzer in 1903. According to Tatsuno’s recollections, initially, a sufficient construction budget was not approved, so the design had to lack grandeur. However, after Japan won the war against Russia in 1905, there was a growing momentum to “build a station worthy of being the front door to Japan, which had won against the great power Russia,” and the construction budget was significantly increased, making it possible to design on a larger scale.
On December 14, 1914, a magnificent three-story station building with dome-shaped roofs on both sides was completed. The structure was made of steel-framed bricks, making it extremely sturdy. Tatsuno wrote that because Japan is prone to earthquakes, bricks and stones alone were not enough to provide security, so iron materials were added. There used to be a popular myth that Tokyo Station was modeled after Amsterdam Central Station, and many people believed it. However, quite a few experts deny this today. They say, technically, the two station buildings have different architectural styles. (However, it is true that the appearances of these two stations are similar, and in fact, the two stations became sister stations in 2006.)
Four days later, on December 18, the opening ceremony for Tokyo Station was held under a clear blue sky. The Prime Minister at the time, Okuma Shigenobu, took to the podium and said, “The power of railways is great, and the communication of ideas and military operations are greatly dependent on them.” After the ceremony was closed, the guests were led to the platform, where a train carrying General Kamio and his staff quietly glided in while a military band played music. In World War I, which broke out that year, Kamio, commander of the 18th Division, had distinguished himself in the seizure of Tsingtao from the German fleet. Kamio’s triumphant return to the imperial capital and the opening ceremony for Tokyo Station were purposely scheduled to take place on the same day.
One year after its opening, the Tokyo Station Hotel opened inside the building, and Tokyo Station continued to develop smoothly. Even when the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in 1923, the building remained almost unscathed thanks to Tatsuno Kingo’s careful earthquake-resistant design. The most serious damage that the Marunouchi structure suffered in its history was during an air raid from midnight on May 25th to 26th, 1945, during World War II. Countless incendiary bombs ignited the building, turning it into a hearth-like state, with the dome roofs and the entire third floor burning away. Restoration work was carried out at a rapid pace, and in March 1947 the building was rebuilt with two main floors and a small part of the third floor. At this time, the dome roofs were replaced with pyramid-like octagonal roofs, and the elaborate design of the interior ceiling was simplified.
Although there were plans to demolish the aging station building and replace it with a modern high-rise building, public opinion in favor of preserving the original building gradually started to grow around the late 1980s. And, in 1999, under then Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, the decision was made to officially preserve and restore the Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building. Then, in 2003, the building was designated an Important Cultural Property by the government as a “valuable piece of architecture that symbolizes the capital, Tokyo.” Finally, in 2007, construction began using the original blueprints and pre-war photographs as clues, and in October 2012, the Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building was restored to its original three-story, domed appearance.
If you leave Tokyo Station from the Marunouchi side and walk west along Gyoko-dori Street for about 500 meters, you will come to Uchibori-dori Street. On the right side is Wadakura Fountain Park, a beautiful park with artistic fountains and seasonal flowers, originally built in 1961 to commemorate the marriage of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, and on the left is a spacious area of lawn and black pine trees. This area is the southeastern corner of the Imperial Palace, known as the Imperial Palace Outer Garden. There is also a parking lot for tourist buses in the Outer Garden, where you will find a bronze statue of Kusunoki Masashige, a 14th century military commander who fought in loyalty to Emperor Godaigo at the time.
A few minutes’ walk from the statue brings you to the most well-known area of the Imperial Palace, which is the area in front of the Imperial Palace Main Gate. There you will find a photogenic double-arched stone bridge spanning the moat. This bridge is often mistakenly called Nijubashi (literally “double bridge”), but its official name is Seimon Ishibashi (Main Gate Stone Bridge), and it is also colloquially known as “Meganebashi” (Spectacles Bridge) due to its shape. Behind this stone bridge is an iron bridge called Seimon Tetsubashi (Main Gate Iron Bridge) spanning the moat, which is in fact the real Nijubashi bridge. The name comes from the fact that the original wooden bridge, before it was replaced with an iron bridge in 1888, had a double-girder structure.
Once you cross this iron bridge, you enter the main area of the Imperial Palace, known as the Palace District, where the Imperial Household Agency’s headquarters and the palace for welcoming domestic and international dignitaries are located. This is where more than 20 traditional ceremonies take place each year. (Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan and his family live in a building in Fukiage Garden, which occupies the northern part of the Palace District.) However, the Imperial Palace’s Gijotai guards takes turns guarding the main gate, and ordinary people are not usually allowed to enter the Palace District except on special occasions. One of those “special occasions” is the New Year’s General Audience on January 2nd, when the Emperor and Empress and other members of the Imperial Family appear on the balcony of Chowaden Hall and wave to the public. For more information on how to visit parts of the Palace District, please see the Imperial Household Agency website (the link is at the bottom of this post).
The land where the current Imperial Palace is located was originally the site of a huge castle called Edo Castle. A military commander named Ota Dokan built the prototype castle here in 1457, and in 1590 it became the residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu. When Ieyasu established the Edo Shogunate in 1603, Edo Castle became the center of politics and administration, and full-scale urban development was carried out, resulting in the birth of the prototype of modern-day Tokyo. The central parts of Edo Castle at that time, including the Honmaru (main enclosure) and Ninomaru (second enclosure), were located in the area that is now the East Gyoen Gardens. The massive stone foundation of Edo Castle’s main tower can still be seen there today.
Now, with that preamble out of the way, I’d like to talk about the Marunouchi area, which is the main subject of this post.
