Foreign Friday

The Sanno
Tokyo, Japan
1980

I stayed at the Sanno about six times in the two years I was in Misawa. The Sanno was managed by U.S. Navy and was located in downtown Tokyo. I stayed there while attending Overseas Education Association meetings. In the late 70s and early 80s, this hotel had seen better days, but it was clean and reasonably priced. Doing research for this post, I discovered this icon was replaced just three years after I left Japan. 

During the Vietnam War, the hotel was used by soldiers on leave. Over the years, the Sanno served as a literal crossroads of the Far East and a popular social meeting ground in downtown Tokyo for countless American personnel and dependents. Chances are one of your relatives stayed a night or two at The Sanno. 

The New Sanno
Tokyo, Japan
source

Old age eventually took its toll on the building, and in 1982 The Sanno was closed. Its successor, The New Sanno (shown above) was opened in 1983 just two miles away. In 2000, the 44-story Sanno Park Tower was built on the land where the old Sanno Hotel once stood.