Shiba Park Hotel, Tokyo, c. 1950.

See also:
Dai-ichi Hotel, c. 1950.
Ambassador Hotel, Tokyo, c. 1950.
Hilltop Hotel, Kanda, Tokyo, c. 1960.

“The forerunner of the Shiba Park Hotel was the women’s dormitory of the adjoining Kyoritsu Pharmaceutical University (presently, Kyoritsu Campus of the Keiyo Gijuku University Pharmacology Department). After the war, it became an officers’ lodge assimilated in GHQ (General Headquarters of the US Army). Subsequently, under the management of the Ministry of Trade, it became a hotel for overseas trade missions.

Shiba Park Hotel tariffs, c. 1960.

“In 1949, it came under private management, and the present Shiba Park Hotel was born. The director of this small, 77-room hotel, Tetsuzo Inumaru, was also the director of the Imperial Hotel, which is the most famous hotel in Japan. In 1956, the hotel sold the ‘American Plan’ offering one night stays for $5 with 2 meals included and in 1960, with the opening of a Chinese restaurant under the direct management of the hotel, the ‘Peking Mansion’ (currently, ‘Peking’), it introduced a new wave into the Japanese hotel industry.

“In 1957, Jiro Inumaru, presently the hotel’s special consultant, became Executive Director, and as he was fond of rugby, many elite rugby teams from all over the world stayed at the hotel. One of the hotel bars, ‘Bar The Fifteen’s’, owes its name to the number of players on the rugby field, and you can see how much Mr. Inumaru liked rugby from the various memorabilia at various locations in the hotel.

“The area around the hotel is studded with famous locations where you can feel history, rare in Tokyo, such as Tokyo Tower, which is a symbol of Tokyo, as well as Hama Rikyu Garden, a typical garden of a famous lord from the Edo Period, and Zojoji temple where many shoguns are entombed.”

– History, Shiba Park Hotel

Shiba Park Hotel Annex, Tokyo, c. 1960.

Map of Central Tokyo depicting the location of the Shiba Park Hotel. (Pre-1958 because there is not yet any landmark caricature of Tokyo Tower.) “30 Minutes to Haneda Airport!” is not something one could do in Tokyo today.

Descriptions of the Shiba Park Hotel, from a marketing brochure c. 1955.

Shiba Park Hotel, Tokyo, c. 1970.