Akasaka Palace (The State Guest House)

The State Guest House, Akasaka Palace serves as a splendid stage of diplomatic activities by welcoming monarchs and presidents from countries all over the world. The State Guest House, Akasaka Palace (SGH AP) was the only palace in Japan that was built based on the neo-Baroque style as Togu Gosho (Crown Prince's Palace) in 1909. It is a structure built by mobilizing all available resources of the Japanese architectural, art and craft industries in those days and represents the culmination of Japan's full-scale modern Western architecture in the Meiji period. Japan returned to the international community a dozen years after World War II and the number of foreign dignitaries that it welcomes increased; given this, the facilities were extensively restored and remodeled along with the construction of a new Japanese Style Annex and made a fresh start as the current SGH AP in 1974.

After the massive repair work in 2009, the SGH AP was designated as a national treasure as one of the structures that represent Japanese architecture. The SGH AP has received a large number of distinguished guests, such as monarchs, presidents or prime ministers, and been used as a venue for international conferences, including summit meetings, as well.