Dragon palace
Following on from news of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, a reader asks why Meguro Gajoen's Dragon Palace is closed most of the year.
Meguro Gajoen is a jaw-dropping wedding hall complex dating from the heady days of the Bubble economy located close to Meguro Station. Even more astonishing is the Showa-period Dragon Palace, built as a Chinese restaurant, just up the hill, which provided the architects of Meguro Gajoen with some inspirational rich pickings.
It also provided animator Hayao Myazaki with ideas for his Oscar-winning animated film "Spirited Away." The Hyakudan Kaidan (Hundred-Step Stairway), for example, leads to six perfectly preserved dining rooms stuffed with art and ornately decorated, all dating from the early 1900s.