Tokyo Station was built in 1914 as an intermediate station on the new elevated railroad connecting the then Shinbashi and Ueno stations.

The construction of Tokyo Station was a project of national prestige as the central railroad station for the capital city of Tokyo.  At that time, the east side of the station was a downtown area and the west side was lonesome.  But, the station building was built on the west side  because of the importance of access to/from the Imperial Palace standing on the west side.

In other words, the station was also for the then Emperor.  The original plan, proposed by a railroad consultant invited from Germany, was a Japanese-style building though, a Western-style building was finally adopted.  It was designed by Tatsuno Kingo, a leading architect in Japan at that time, and was completed in 1914.  It was a three-storied ferroconcrete building of red brick, 330 meters long.  After being heavily destroyed by the air raids during the Second World War, it was restored promptly as a two-storied building and was used for about 50 years since, because of the financial shortage at that time.  From 2006, thereafter, a full-scale restoration work started and it regained the original figure for the first time in 60 years.  The west side of the station, the so-called Marunouchi area, is Japan’s largest business area, where the head quarters of Japan’s big business stand side by side.

Jason Hardy

http://tour-guide-japan.jp/