History
Tokyo Station opened on 20 December 1914 as a unified terminus for the Tōkaidō and Tōhoku main lines, replacing the older Shinbashi terminal that had served the Tōkaidō Line since 1872. The red-brick Marunouchi building was designed by Tatsuno Kingo and originally rose three storeys. Much of it was destroyed in the firebombing of 25 May 1945; the postwar reconstruction completed in 1947 was rebuilt to only two storeys, with simple angular roofs replacing the original domes. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened from here to Osaka in 1964, and northbound Tōhoku and Jōetsu Shinkansen services reached Tokyo in 1991. A five-year restoration completed in October 2012 returned the Marunouchi façade to its 1914 silhouette, including the rebuilt domes.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Prime Minister Hara Takashi was stabbed to death by an 18-year-old railway switchman in front of the south wing on 4 November 1921 as he arrived to board a train for Kyoto.