Gajoen Tokyo and the Hyakudan Kaidan: painted rooms, a garden waterfall and a lot of cats

Some places in Tokyo are worth a detour for one thing. Gajoen is worth it for more than 2,500 things: that's roughly how many paintings and works of traditional craft GO TOKYO counts in the building. Joanna and I spent parts of April 5 and 6, 2018 there, when it was still called Hotel Gajoen Tokyo.

Inside, the corridors, restrooms and even the elevator are decorated with mother-of-pearl, carving and painted panels. Then there's the Hyakudan Kaidan, a wooden staircase from 1935 with seven banquet rooms climbing a hillside, and in spring 2018 its rooms were full of cat art.

A shishi lion with a swirling white mane picked out in mother-of-pearl on a dark lacquer panel — A mother-of-pearl lion on black lacquer.

What Gajoen is, and a little history

Gajoen started as a restaurant. Its founder, the businessman Hosokawa Rikizo, turned his own house in Shibaura into a restaurant in 1928, according to JR East's profile of the hotel, and opened Meguro Gajoen on the current site in 1931. He hired leading painters and craftsmen to decorate almost every surface, and the place became known as the Showa-era Dragon Palace, after the undersea palace in Japanese folk tales. It's also credited as Japan's first all-in-one wedding hall, and weddings are still a big part of its story.

Most of the old wooden buildings are gone. The one that survived is the Hyakudan Kaidan, built in 1935 as the restaurant's Building No. 3. The Tokyo Metropolitan cultural property database describes four wooden buildings stepping up a slope with about 16 meters of height difference, joined by a 60-meter stair corridor of 99 zelkova-wood steps. It was designated a Tokyo Tangible Cultural Property in March 2009.

One thing has changed since our visit. The previous operator ended its lease and the hotel closed on October 1, 2025. It reopened on July 27, 2026 as Gajoen Tokyo, now run by Hilton, which plans to rebrand it under its LXR luxury label. The art and the Hyakudan Kaidan are still there. So treat my notes as advice on how to visit, not a description of today's restaurants.

The Hyakudan Kaidan: 99 steps and seven rooms

The name means "hundred-step staircase," but there are 99 steps. The official Hyakudan Kaidan page lists what's packed into the rooms: 126 Japanese paintings by leading artists of the early Showa era, mother-of-pearl inlay, kumiko lattice screens made without nails or glue, and more than 750 cloisonné pieces set into the ceilings. Each room has its own theme and painter. The Tokyo database singles out the Gyosho room as the most lavish.

You reach the bottom of the staircase by an elevator that is itself lined with mother-of-pearl. At the entrance you take off your shoes and climb in your socks, stopping in each room as you go.

The rooms usually host changing exhibitions, from doll festivals to flower arranging. From October 1, 2026 to March 30, 2027, they're open almost empty, as a "cultural property special opening," so you can see the architecture itself. I think that would be a wonderful way to see them.

The cat exhibition we walked into

In spring 2018 the rooms were hosting a cat-art exhibition, Nyanto no Kokuho-ten, which ran from March 29 to May 13, 2018. Announcements at the time, like this one in Bijutsu Techo, described 40 artists and more than 800 cat works once a weekly series of solo shows was counted, with each room given its own theme. A cat-goods market ran alongside it. The whole exhibition was held inside the Hyakudan Kaidan, so one admission ticket covered all of it.

A red cat-faced Buddha figure with several arms, seated on a lotus in front of a carved halo — A cat-faced Buddha on a lotus, from the 2018 cat exhibition.

One room held a red, many-armed, cat-faced Buddha seated on a lotus.

A white ceramic calico cat with a red collar and gold bell, lying on its back on a brocade cushion — A lucky cat taking the afternoon off.

Elsewhere there were lucky cats asleep on brocade cushions, a cat in full samurai armor, and a chair shaped like a giant paw. The exhibition's announcements credited a paw chair like this one to the artist HISOKA.

A sculpted cat's head wearing red samurai armor and a helmet, in a glass display case — A cat in samurai armor.

A white chair shaped like a giant cat's paw, with soft grey pads, under a spotlight — A chair shaped like a cat's paw.

A life-size sculpture of a calico cat stretching on a low plinth, beneath a geometric wooden lattice — A stretching calico cat, from the same exhibition.

If you're not a cat person, don't worry. The exhibitions change through the year, and the building is the real show. But if you see that Gajoen has a cat show on, go.

The garden and the waterfall

Downstairs, the hotel opens onto a Japanese garden with a tall waterfall and a pond. You can see it through the glass from the atrium, which has seating facing the falls. We stopped in the atrium in 2018. The atrium dining has new names since the 2026 reopening, Kanade Terrace and Kanade Lounge, but it still looks out on the garden and the falls.

A tall glass atrium lounge with red armchairs, looking out to green garden trees and a tall waterfall — The atrium lounge, with the garden waterfall beyond the glass.

I filmed a few seconds of the falls and the pond from the edge of the garden.

The garden waterfall and pond, April 2018. Six seconds, no sound.

A crackle-glazed teacup on a red lacquered saucer on a pale wooden table — Tea on a lacquered saucer.

Getting there from Meguro Station

Gajoen is in Shimomeguro, and the official access page puts it about a three-minute walk from the West Exit of Meguro Station (JR Yamanote Line, plus the Tokyu Meguro, Namboku and Mita lines). That walk goes down Gyoninzaka, a short, steep slope, which means a climb on the way back to the station. The alternative, Gonnosuke-zaka, is about five minutes.

A granite statue of Kannon holding a lotus bud, beside a red paper lantern at a temple — Daienji temple, on the Gyoninzaka slope between Meguro Station and the hotel.

Daienji, a temple known for its stone statues, sits on Gyoninzaka about 200 meters from the hotel, according to Hilton's page for Gajoen Tokyo. It makes a good place for a breather on the walk back up.

If the slope worries you, there's a gentler indoor route through the Arco Tower buildings next door, with escalators down toward the hotel. Ask at the hotel or check a map before you go.
Inside the hotel, enter by the main entrance. The elevator to the Hyakudan Kaidan is on the left and goes to the 3rd floor, where the visit starts.

Tickets, hours and how long to allow

These are the details for the current opening (October 1, 2026 to March 30, 2027), from the official page. They change with each exhibition.

Hours: general entry 11:00 to 17:00, last entry 16:30. Closed on Wednesdays and over the New Year break (December 28, 2026 to January 1, 2027).
Tickets are sold online only, not at the Hyakudan Kaidan desk. A same-day adult ticket is ¥1,800 for this opening.
Disability certificate holders and one companion get in free during general hours. Show the certificate at the desk; you don't need to buy anything online.
Quieter, smaller sessions: on some evenings from 17:00 to 18:00 there are limited-capacity visits, either free viewing or a guided tour in Japanese, with separate tickets.
Photos are allowed for this opening, without flash or tripods. The rules can differ by exhibition.

I'd allow at least an hour for the staircase and its rooms, longer if there's an exhibition, and another hour for the garden and a sit-down in the atrium. It's an easy half-day, and there's no reason to rush it.

Accessibility: stairs, shoes and seating

Shoes come off, and the official guidance asks you to wear socks rather than go barefoot. Wear shoes you can slip off and on without bending too far, or bring something to sit on when you put them back on.
The steps are the original 1935 zelkova wood. Go slowly in socks, use the handrail where there is one, and let others pass.
There's one restroom, at the entrance to the Hyakudan Kaidan. Use it before you start climbing.
Leave big bags and umbrellas behind. You're asked not to bring them in.
The rest of the hotel is easier. Tokyo's official guide, GO TOKYO, lists a wheelchair-accessible elevator, escalators, ramps and a multi-purpose restroom, and you can see the garden and its waterfall from the atrium without any steps.

When to go

Weekdays, right at 11:00, when general entry opens, or one of the limited evening sessions if you'd like the rooms quieter.
Avoid Wednesdays. The Hyakudan Kaidan is closed.
Late March and early April bring the cherry blossoms along the Meguro River nearby. It's beautiful, and it's also when the whole neighborhood is at its busiest. Expect company on the walk from the station.
Rainy days are fine. Almost everything here is indoors, and the waterfall doesn't mind.

Opening hours, routes and rules change; check before you go.