Let's discuss Hotel Okura's auction

This week's featured article

Fans of Tokyo's soon-to-be-demolished Hotel Okura are getting a chance to purchase memorabilia from the 1960s-era modernist masterpiece, which has hosted world leaders, British royalty and even fictional superspy James Bond.

The beloved hotel turned its lights off at the end of August after decades of serving high rollers and is slated to become a gleaming high-rise hotel despite an outcry from preservationists.

The operator of the prestigious 53-year-old hotel said furniture and other items are being auctioned off, including pieces from the top-notch Imperial and Royal suites.

The hotel, located across from the U.S. Embassy atop a hill in central Tokyo, has housed a string of foreign leaders, celebrities and royalty, including U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Barack Obama, Britain's Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

The online auction, which began on Nov. 4 and will continue through Dec. 20, is offering more than 300 items. Gems include a sofa set and a sideboard from the VIP rooms and dining tables and chairs from the hotel's restaurants. Brown armchairs from the now-closed Orchid Room eatery are also on sale.

Decorative items made from objects found in the hotel will also be sold, including jewelry from chandelier pieces and pillows made out of wall cloth. Those items will be sold on a first-come basis, the hotel said. But iconic items from the hotel's main lobby — its "Okura lanterns" and red lacquer tables with modernist chairs — will be kept for use in the new building set to open in early 2019, she said.

While an Okura annex building next door is avoiding the wrecking ball, the main wing — which opened in 1962 — will be torn down despite petitions from home and abroad to stop the demolition.

The main wing will make way for a 510-room twin-tower hotel, extending up to 41 stories.

The hotel said proceeds from the auction and sale will go to a charity promoting music and art in areas of northeastern Japan hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

First published in The Japan Times on Nov. 6.

Warm up

One-minute chat about auctions.

Game

Collect words related to hotels, e.g., travel, lobby, business.

New words

1) demolish: tear down; e.g., "The office was demolished."

2) memorabilia: objects that remind you of past events; e.g., "I keep memorabilia from my childhood in a box under my bed."

3) outcry: strong protest; e.g., "The new laws caused an outcry."

4) prestigious: renowned; e.g., "Cambridge and Harvard are considered prestigious universities."

Guess the headline

Tokyo's famed Hotel O_ _ _ _ au_ _ _ _ _s furniture, memorabilia

Questions

1) How old is the Hotel Okura?

2) When did the auction start?

3) What is the auction raising money for?

Let's discuss the article

1) What is your image of Hotel Okura?

2) Would you be interested in getting memorabilia from a hotel you are a fan of?

3) What do you think Hotel Okura will be like after it is rebuilt?

Reference

各国の著名人が滞在し歴史を重ね、数ある東京のホテルの中でも特別な 存在であったホテルオークラはその建て替えにあたって転換期を迎えようとしています。家財具のオークションは、未だに反対の声が止まない中でも 着実に建て替えに向かっている象徴かもしれません。

それぞれの品がホテルオークラの空間を離ればらばらになってしまうことが寂しいと思うファンの人もいれば、その歴史を歩んできた一部を手に入れる ことができるかもしれない機会に胸を躍らせているファンの人もいる でしょう。

一流品であるその品自体の価値に加え、ホテルオークラの一端を担ってきたという歴史は各品々にとても大きな存在意義を与えるに違いありません。

多くの人々の東京での滞在を見つめてきた品々は、どのような人の手にわたってこれからの時間を歩んでいくのでしょうか。