Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower

A 40-story hotel tower completed in 1974 on the Kioicho hilltop in Chiyoda City, Tokyo. Built as an extension of the main Hotel New Otani wing that opened ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the Garden Tower rises above a 10,000-tsubo traditional Japanese garden that remains one of the largest private gardens in central Tokyo.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chiyoda City

Completed

1974

Floors

40 above ground

Developer

New Otani Co., Ltd.

A 1974 Tower Above Tokyo’s Largest Private Garden

On the plateau between Akasaka and Yotsuya, a ridge of high ground that once held daimyo estates in the Edo period, stands one of Tokyo’s most storied hotel complexes. Hotel New Otani Tokyo opened its main building in 1965, a year after the Tokyo Olympics had already ended — rushed to completion to receive athletes, officials, and international press at a moment when Japan was re-entering the world stage. The Garden Tower, completed in 1974, was its logical sequel: a 40-floor high-rise addition that gave the complex far greater capacity while preserving the sprawling Japanese garden that wraps around the buildings.

The address, 4-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda City, places the Garden Tower at the boundary of several of Tokyo’s most influential precincts: the government quarter of Nagatacho lies immediately to the south, the Akasaka entertainment and embassy district to the west, and the palace grounds are within walking distance to the east. Guests in upper rooms look down over around 10,000 tsubo (roughly 33,000 square metres) of traditional landscape garden — a composition of ponds, stone lanterns, and pruned pines that feels improbable in a city centre of this density.

A Legacy from the Olympic Era

The main building’s origin in the run-up to the 1964 Olympics connects Hotel New Otani to a pivotal chapter in postwar Japanese architecture and urban ambition. Many of the buildings erected for that Games have since been replaced, but the Kioicho complex has persisted by continually reinventing itself — adding wings, updating amenities, and absorbing the demand that flows from being near the seat of Japanese government. The Tokyu Capitol Tower a short walk away represents a newer wave of the same impulse: anchoring high-end hospitality to political geography. Hotel New Otani’s Garden Tower predates that wave by more than three decades.

Summary

The Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower was completed in 1974, rising 40 floors on the Kioicho hillside in Chiyoda City. Its history as an extension of a complex built for the 1964 Olympics gives it a place in the longer story of how Tokyo rebuilt and projected itself to the world. The Japanese garden below, visible from many rooms, is an unusual amenity for any high-rise hotel — proof that density and landscape need not be opposites.

Looking for a hotel in the Chiyoda or Akasaka area? Check Rakuten Travel for options nearby.