, or the , is one of the two

state guest house A state guest house is a building owned by the government of a country which is used as an official residence for visiting foreign dignitaries, especially during state visits or for other important events. Americas Canada * 7 Rideau Gate in O ...

s of the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

. The other state guesthouse is the Kyoto State Guest House. The palace was originally built as the in 1909. Today the palace is designated by the Government of Japan as an official accommodation for visiting state dignitaries. Located in the Moto-Akasaka, Minato,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, the building took on its present function in 1974, having previously been an imperial detached palace. In 2009 the palace was designated as a National Treasure of Japan.

Overview

Location:

, Minato-ku, Moto-Akasaka-chome No. 1 The building has 15,000 m² of floor space, and together with a smaller structure in the Japanese style, occupies a 117,000 m² site. The main building is a Neo-Baroque style Western building, resembling in particular the

Hofburg Palace The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn ...

. It is one of largest buildings constructed during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. The palace is surrounded by a footpath unobstructed by road crossings. The footpath is approximately 3.25 km long (roughly 2 miles). The railway station nearest the Palace is

Yotsuya Station is a railway station in the Yotsuya district of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, operated jointly by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and Tokyo Metro. Several parts of the station are also located in the Rokubancho and Kojimachi neighborhoods of C ...

History

The territory that Akasaka Palace now occupies was part of the residence of

Kishū Domain , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...

, one of the major branches of the ruling Tokugawa clan, during the

Tokugawa period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the Owari presented the land to the Imperial Household. Designed by the architect (a student of Josiah Conder), the Neo-Baroque structure was constructed between 1899 and 1909 as a residence for the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

. Originally it was named

Tōgū Palace In Japan, the traditionally does not refer to a single location, but to any residence of the Imperial Crown prince. As Prince Akishino, the current heir presumptive, is not a direct male descendant to the Emperor and not an Imperial Crown Prince h ...

(ja. lit. "Palace for the Crown Prince") but was later renamed Akasaka Palace when the Crown Prince's residence was moved. Regent Crown Prince Hirohito resided at Akasaka Palace from September 1923 until September 1928, two months before his coronation. The move was intended to be temporary, but lasted five years. During the renovation of his contemporary residence, Hirohito intended to lodge temporarily at Akasaka Palace, moving in on August 28, 1923. Four days later, Japan was hit by the Great Kantō earthquake on September 1. During his residence in Akasaka Palace, Crown Prince Hirohito married, and fathered two daughters, Princess Sachiko (who died at the age of 6 months) and Princess Shigeko. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

relieved the Imperial Household of Akasaka Palace. Several governmental offices were installed in the palace, including the National Diet Library which was founded in 1948, Cabinet Legislation Bureau and Organizing Committee of Tokyo Olympics 1964. Through the economic revival of the country after the Second World War, the Japanese Government established a State Guest House. The former residence of

Prince Asaka General was the founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Japanese invasion of China and the Second World War. Son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and uncle by marriage of E ...

, currently Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, had been used as the state guest house, though it was too small for that purpose. It was decided in 1967 to renovate the former Akasaka Palace as the new state guest house. The renovation was led by architect Togo Murano, took more than five years and 10.8 billion yen, and was completed in 1974. The first official state guest at the renovated palace was Gerald Ford in 1974, which was the first visit of the incumbent

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

to Japan. Since then, the palace has provided accommodations for state and official guests and a venue for international conferences, which have included the G7 summit meetings (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, 1986 and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

) and APEC summits. The venue was closed from 2006 to 2009 for renovation, and was reopened in April 2009. In December 2009, the main building, the main gate and the garden with fountain were designated as a National Treasure of Japan. It was the first designation of assets after the

as a National Treasure of Japan.

Gallery

File:Geihinkan_Akasaka_Palace_Front_2010.jpg, Akasaka Palace main entrance and garden File:State Guest House Akasaka Palace main entrance.jpg, Akasaka Palace main entrance File:Akasaka_Palace_5.jpg, Main Garden File:JPN State Guest Houses Annex, Yushin-tei 1.jpg, The Annex of the State Guest House, Yushintei File:JPN State Guest Houses Annex, Escort station 2.jpg, Safety facilities and national treasure accompanying Akasaka-yuen File:Akasaka_Palace-1.jpg, Gate of Akasaka Palace File:Old_National_Diet_Library.JPG, The National Diet Library existed in the present-day State Guest-House (former Akasaka Detached Palace), 8 June 1948 File:President Trump at the Akasaka Palace (47945531727).jpg, President Donald J. Trump participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Monday, May 27, 2019

References

External links

Cabinet Office's official site (with photo gallery)
{{Authority control Akasaka, Tokyo Palaces in Tokyo Imperial residences in Japan Tourist attractions in Tokyo Baroque Revival architecture National Treasures of Japan Buildings of the Meiji period Houses completed in 1909 State guesthouses

Overview

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links