Hotel New Grand

Hotel New Grand is a historic Western-style hotel standing on the Yokohama waterfront at 10 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, directly facing Yamashita Park and the port of Yokohama. Designed by the renowned architect Watanabe Jin — who also designed the Wako Building in Ginza — the five-story steel-reinforced concrete structure was built by Shimizu-gumi and opened on December 1, 1927, four years after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 devastated Yokohama. The hotel was conceived as a symbol of the city's reconstruction and as a first-class accommodation befitting an international port city.

The hotel quickly became the preferred lodging for foreign dignitaries, celebrities, and diplomats visiting Yokohama and Tokyo. Notable pre-war guests included Charlie Chaplin (1932), Babe Ruth (1934), and Jean Cocteau. In 1937, General Douglas MacArthur and his wife Jean honeymooned at the hotel while en route to the Philippines with Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon.

When World War II ended, the Allied forces selected Yokohama as their initial staging area partly because Hotel New Grand had survived the devastating air raids of May 29, 1945 largely intact, making it suitable accommodation for the Supreme Commander. On August 30, 1945, MacArthur landed at Atsugi Airfield shortly after 2 PM, wearing his trademark sunglasses and corncob pipe. He was driven approximately 30 kilometers through the devastated landscape to Hotel New Grand, arriving in the late afternoon. Room 315, on the third floor facing the port, was designated as his personal quarters. MacArthur reportedly told an aide that he liked the room.

MacArthur used Room 315 as both his residence and an informal command post for several days before relocating to the Yokohama Customs House and subsequently to the Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Building in Tokyo, which became the permanent GHQ/SCAP headquarters. During MacArthur's brief stay at Hotel New Grand, critical early occupation decisions were initiated, and on August 31, the emotional reunion between MacArthur and Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright — who had endured over three years as a Japanese prisoner of war after the fall of Corregidor — took place at the hotel.

The hotel was requisitioned by the Allied occupation forces and served as billeting for American officers from 1945 until 1952, when it was returned to Japanese management. During those seven years of requisition, the American officers introduced Western hotel management practices and culinary traditions that influenced the hotel's subsequent development. Two of the hotel's signature dishes are tied to those years: Pudding à la Mode is said to have been created during the requisition for the wives of American officers, and Spaghetti Napolitan was devised afterwards by head chef Irie Shigetada, prompted by the spaghetti the occupation forces left behind. (The hotel's third signature dish, Seafood Doria, dates from the prewar kitchen of its first head chef, Saly Weil.)

Room 315 has been preserved as the "MacArthur's Suite" (マッカーサーズスイート), also informally known as the "Room of Victory" (勝利の間). The original writing desk and chair used by MacArthur remain in the suite, which is available for guest reservations. The hotel's main building was designated a Yokohama City Recognized Historical Structure in 1992 and a Modern Industrial Heritage site by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2007. An 18-story tower building was added in 1991. Today, Hotel New Grand remains one of Japan's premier classic hotels and a member of the Japan Classic Hotel Association.