Tokyo Keio Plaza Hotel was the first skyscraper built in Nishi-Shinjuku and the first high-rise hotel in Japan. The 1,438-room hotel is a re-development project on the site where a water purification plant (Yodobashi Purification Plant) formerly existed. The hotel consists of two towers. The first tower is 178 metres tall and was completed in June 1971; it was the
tallest building in Tokyo from 1970 until 1974, when it was surpassed by the nearby
Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. The second tower is 138 metres tall and construction was finished in November 1980. In 1975 the hotel opened the first hotel chapel in Japan. In the early 1980s, the Japanese government planned to lease a corner of the hotel's rooftop for sublease to the
United States Forces Japan, officially for the purpose of relaying television transmissions between
Yokota Air Base and the
Hardy Barracks in central Tokyo.
Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Koichiro Ueda alleged that the real purpose of the plan was to facilitate communications with US military strategic planners based in central Tokyo. The hotel hosts the annual
Miss Nippon contest. It made an appearance in the 1984 film
The Return of Godzilla, where it was damaged by
Godzilla.
Other locations •
Hachioji – 200 rooms, opened in 1994. Located near
Hachioji Station in western Tokyo. •
Tama – 248 rooms, opened in 1990. Located near
Tama-Center Station in western Tokyo. •
Sapporo – A franchised property located in
Chuo-ku, Sapporo. Keio Plaza also operated a hotel in
Takamatsu from 1976 to 1997, and has an affiliate relationship with the Howard Plaza Hotel in
Taipei. == Corporate management ==