Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
Geihinkan Akasaka Palace 迎賓館赤坂離宮
- History
- Inside the Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
- Visiting Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
- Points to Note Before Your Visit
- Applying to Visit
- Access
- Tokyo Area Guides
- Japan City Guides
Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
Akasaka Palace, or the Geihinkan in Japanese, occupies part of the large expanse of land known as Akasaka Goyochi (Akasaka Estate) at the northern end of the Akasaka district of Tokyo.
Akasaka Palace is a former imperial residence, built in 1909 in the neo-baroque style. In 1974, the palace became the State Guesthouse (Geihinkan), and the Japanese-style Yushintei annex was added to complement the Geihinkan's fully occidental style. The Geihinkan underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2009. When not in use for state visits, the Geihinkan and its grounds are open to the public for a fee.
History
Work on the palace began in 1899, in anticipation of the wedding of the Crown Prince of the day, who would become the Emperor Taisho (1912-1926), the father of Hirohito and the first Japanese emperor to live his whole life in or near Tokyo, rather than at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. His current residence of the time still exists on Akasaka Goyochi, a little to the south-west of the Geihinkan: the Togu Gosho, which was where he was born. However, with Japan's growing role in the world, a Western-style residence was considered desirable. The new Akasaka Palace was a major public project that drew widely on the efforts of the newly Westernized bureaucracy and intelligentsia.
Until the end of World War II, Akasaka Palace was the official imperial residence. After the war, the palace was transferred from the Imperial Household to the Japanese government. From 1948 to 1964, it was occupied by a succession of different government administrative offices including, in the mid-1960's, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.
In 1968, work began on remodeling it as the State Guest House, which opened as such six years later, in 1974. After further major renovations in the mid 2000's, in 2009 it was designated a National Treasure on the centenary of its construction. The Geihinkan was opened to the public in 2016.
Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
Inside the Gehinkan
The Geihinkan Akasaka Palace truly lives up to its name with its ornate entrance hall and grand staircase and four massive banquet rooms, besides other features. The marble staircases, floors and columns, ceiling art, cloisonné panels, chandeliers, gilded reliefs, embroidered upholstery, and trompe-l'oeil ceilings are as richly and ostentatiously regal as any European grand residence.
Visiting the Geihinkan
The Geihinkan can be visited. There are four categories of visit, each with a different entry fee. You must choose which you want, according to your interests and how much time you have to spare.
The Geihinkan grounds include the Geihinkan/Akasaka Palace building itself, the Japanese-style Yushintei annex, and the garden. Visits are divided into four types, taking in different facilities and combinations of them. Two of them are human-guided for part of the tour and require a prior reservation; the other two you are free to wander (with an optional audio guide), and they do not require a reservation. Regardless of whether they include human guides or not, different types of visit require different lengths of time.
Children of elementary school age and younger are not permitted to visit the Japanese-style annex.
Even when it is closed, if you are in the area the Geihinkan is still worth a look from the distance of the splendid wrought iron gates.
Four Admission Packages
There are four kinds of admission to the Geihinkan.
- Geihinkan & Garden (Non-guided)
- Japanese Annex & Garden (Guided) + Geihinkan (Non-guided)
- Japanese Annex (Guided) + Garden & Geihinkan (Non-guided)
- Garden (Non-guided)
(1) Non-Guided Main Building & Garden (Main Garden & Front Garden)
This visit does not require a reservation for individuals (but groups of 20 or more do have to reserve). It covers the Geihinkan building and Garden only. An audio guide (English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, or Spanish) is available for 200 yen.
Time required: about 60 to 90 minutes.
Hours: 10 am - 5 pm, with last entry at 4:30 pm.
Admission fee: 1,500 yen for adults, 1,000 yen for university students, 500 yen for junior/senior high school pupils, and free for elementary school age and younger.
(2) Guided Tour Japanese Style Annex & Garden
This visit covers everything on the grounds that is open to the public, but is guided for the Japanese Style Annex and Garden only. You are free to enter the Geihinkan on your own. However, you must state at the time of paying the entrance fee whether you intend to enter the Geihinkan or not. But whether you decide to visit the Geihinkan or not, the admission fee remains the same. The guided tour alone takes 60 - 90 minutes. Including the Geihinkan in your visit typically extends this to 2 or 2 1/2 hours (depending on how long you want to spend in the Geihinkan).
Being guided, this tour requires prior application. Applications are approved by draw, so there is no guarantee of success. However, the 3 pm time slot is a special case. Of the several time slots offered throughout the day, only the 3pm tour - the last of the day - is in English, with the rest in Japanese. By turning up at 3 pm, even without having made an application, you may be permitted to join if the tour has not yet reached its 20-person capacity. Like the draw, this too is a matter of luck.
Times: 10:30 am, 11 am, 11:30 am, 12 noon, 12:30 pm, 1 pm, 1:30 pm, 2 pm, 2;30 pm, 3 pm.
Admission fee: 2,000 yen for adults, 1,500 yen for university students, 700 yen for junior/senior high school; no entry to elementary school age and younger.
Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
(3) Guided Tour Japanese style annex
This visit covers everything on the grounds that is open to the public, but is guided for the Japanese Style Annex only. You are free to enter the Garden and Geihinkan on your own. However, you must state at the time of paying the entrance fee whether you intend to enter the Geihinkan or not. But whether you decide to visit the Geihinkan or not, the admission fee remains the same. The guided tour alone takes 60 - 90 minutes. Including the Geihinkan in your visit typically extends this to 2 or 2 1/2 hours (depending on how long you want to spend in the Geihinkan). Being guided, this tour requires prior application. Applications are approved by draw, so there is no guarantee of success. However, the 3 pm time slot is a special case. Of the several time slots offered throughout the day, only the 3pm tour - the last of the day - is in English, with the rest in Japanese. By turning up at 3 pm, even without having made an application, you may be permitted to join if the tour has not yet reached its 20-person capacity. Like the draw, this too is a matter of luck.
Times: 10:30 am, 11 am, 11:30 am, 12 noon, 12:30 pm, 1 pm, 1:30 pm, 2 pm, 2;30 pm, 3 pm.
Admission fee: 1,500 yen for adults, 1,000 yen for university students, 500 yen for junior/senior high school; no entry to elementary school age and younger.
(4) Non-Guided Garden (Main Garden and Front Garden)
This visit does not require a reservation. It provides access to the Garden only, and not the Geihinkan.
Time required: about 30 to 45 minutes.
Hours: 10 am - 5 pm, with last entry at 4:30 pm.
Admission fee: 300 yen for adults; free for university students and younger.
Points to Note Before Your Visit
-Entry is via the West Gate.
-Entry is cash only. The ticket machine takes only coins and 1,000-yen notes. For larger denominations you will have to use the personned ticket desk (which may involve queuing).
-Each visitor is subject to a security check upon entry.
-Entry to each venue is one-time only; re-entry is not permitted.
-For tours requiring an individual application, one person may apply for up to four people (that person included).
-For tours requiring an application, you must show a print-out or phone screen of your application confirmation at the entrance.
-The Geihinkan is wheelchair accessible (with the narrowest doors 85 cm wide), but the Japanese-style annex is not.
-There are spaces for diaper-changing and breastfeeding.
-Children of elementary school age and under may not enter the Japanese-style annex.
For details, see the Geihinkan entry rules on the official website.
Applying to Visit
The two guided tours require an advance application (except for the 3 pm English-language tour, which you can turn up on the day and join if it is not booked out). Go to the Geihinkan website to see what dates are available, and to book.
Geihinkan Access
Yotsuya Station, on the JR Chuo/Sobu Line and the Marunouchi Subway Line and Namboku Subway Line, is the closest station. From the JR Chuo/Sobu Line, take the Akasaka Exit. From the Tokyo Metro subway lines, take Exit 1. To the West Gate is about a 9-minute walk.
2-1-1 Moto-Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0051 Japan
Tel 03 5728 7788
Geihinkan Akasaka Palace
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The Geihinkan (Akasaka Palace) in Tokyo is Japan's grand, neo-Baroque State Guest House that began life as an imperial palace, and is open to the public.