Tokyo Station, built 100 years ago, shines again in its old splendours following the achieved reconstruction of its two domes, destroyed during World War II.
TOKYO- Tokyo Station, the main hub for the city’s business district, unveiled its new rooftop domes on October 1st, marking the completion of a 50 billion yen (US$ 645 million) refit for the nearly 100-year-old building.
According to Bloomberg, the two domes, which return the station to how it looked before damage in World War II, were added during more than five years of construction. The work also included expanding the station’s hotel, adding a new department store annex, and replacing 10,000 pine stakes used to secure foundations against earthquakes.
“The station will be the face of Tokyo,” Station Manager Yasuyoshi Umehara said during a press tour. “I hope people can look at it for the next 100 years and be inspired.”
Train operator and station owner East Japan Railway Co. refitted the red-brick building in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district as part of a wider push to boost retail sales. The station, the city’s main bullet-train hub, handles about 380,000 mainline train passengers a day, including workers at the headquarters of Japan’s biggest banks and tourists visiting the nearby Imperial Palace. Trains also link the station with Narita airport.
“JR East knows they have a good location,” said Masayuki Kubota, who oversees the equivalent of $1.9 billion in assets at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “They are making progress in their goal of becoming a conglomerate in lifestyle, transportation and finance.”
The number of rooms at the JR East-owned Tokyo Station Hotel, which reopens Oct. 3, has more than doubled to 150 following a refit that included rebuilding a third floor and the construction of two new underground floors. There are 10 restaurants and cafes, serving Japanese, French, Italian and Chinese food, along with three banquet rooms.
Daimaru Inc. will expand its department store at the station with the opening of the annex on Oct. 5. It will be housed in a 13-story building with 13,800 square meters (148,500 square feet) of retail space.
Work in the main station included also the addition of dozens of shops and restaurants, as well as new ticket and tourist information counters. Passengers will have free Wi-Fi access.
The domes, at the northern and southern ends of the building, were restored to their original 1914 design. On the inside, they are painted egg-yolk yellow with reliefs of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. The original structures were replaced by angled roofs after World War II. The 335-meter long station, designated as an important cultural property, was designed by Kingo Tatsuno, who also designed the Bank of Japan building, according to Japan’s National Diet Library. The station withstood the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, which destroyed about 293,000 structures.
JR East will light up the station’s exterior at night to help attract tourists. It’s also building an elevated walkway that will link two skyscrapers it has built on the opposite side of the station.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
