“The Okura Tokyo” will begin a new era in September 2019. The new Okura will consist of two buildings, the ``Okura Heritage Wing'' and the ``Okura Prestige Tower,'' and will continue to evolve while preserving the essence and traditions of Okura. 12 stories that reaffirm the charm of Okura and explore the new The Okura Tokyo.
Utilizing his own experience, he strives to improve the quality of hotels in Japan.
Iwajiro Noda, who became the president of Hotel Okura in 1959 (Showa 34), was born in 1897 (Meiji 30). After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, Noda joined Mitsui & Co. and moved to the United States, but later transferred to Nippon Cotton (now Nichimen). In order to compensate for the handicap of not being able to deal with Japanese people when negotiating raw silk business, he came up with the idea of using the best hotel in the area. While staying at a hotel, looking impeccably groomed, and holding business meetings in a luxurious lobby, Noda gained a first-hand experience of what a first-class hotel should be like and what customers want from a hotel. His experiences during this time seem to have been of great help in later determining the direction of Hotel Okura.
Iwajiro Noda was born in a clothing store in Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture. He served as the president of Hotel Okura when it first opened.
Noda was interned in a concentration camp during the war, and was then forced to return to Japan, leaving behind his American wife and children. In 1946, he was selected as the chairman of the Holding Company Reorganization Committee, which was established at the request of GHQ. The job here was to dismantle the zaibatsu, including the Okura Zaibatsu. Noda, who has lived in the United States for nearly 21 years and has exceptional English and negotiation skills, appears to have proceeded with the split while establishing GHQ in a manner that would cause as little inconvenience as possible to Japanese companies and the Japanese economic community.
After the committee was disbanded, he leveraged his extensive network of contacts to establish relationships with several companies. It was Kishichiro Okura who asked him if he would like to become a partner in realizing his ambition of ``building the world's best hotel.''
Hotel Okura Tokyo immediately after completion. There are no other skyscrapers in the area other than Tokyo Tower.
The two, who know more about overseas luxury hotels than anyone else, thought carefully about everything from the architecture and design to the food and service, with the aim of attracting guests from around the world with a hotel that was uniquely Japanese and not an imitation of the West. To manage the hotel, Noda hired Keiichi Gamo, who studied hotel management at Cornell University and was serving as deputy manager of Hotel New Grand at the time, and Masayoshi Ono, who had previously served as head chef at Alaska and Tsukigase Coq d'Or, as executive chef. Invitation. While I was in charge of selecting and training human resources for each department, I personally went on an overseas tour for about six months to see the current state of top-class hotels overseas from the perspective of a manager. I am afraid that he wrote to me.
Hotel Okura Tokyo successfully opened in 37, three years after Noda's involvement. The words he set forth as the hotel's philosophy when the hotel first opened were "kindness and harmony." As a professional hotelier, we must constantly hone our skills, respect each other, and improve teamwork with a spirit of harmony while providing heartfelt hospitality. These words are still cherished today as expressing the essence of Hotel Okura. Noda continued to visit hotel construction sites until the year before his death in 1962 at the age of 1988. That spirit will no doubt continue to be inherited at The Okura Tokyo.
(Titles omitted)
Photography by © The Okura Tokyo
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