Ambassador Hotel, Tokyo, c. 1950.

“My first visit to Tokyo was a tourist one. I arrived at Haneda Airport on 11 July 1956 and was the only passenger on the BOAC bus, which took me to the Ambassador Hotel, near Iidabashi Station. The Ambassador was excellent. A single room cost 2000 yen, which in those days was £2; but, unlike today, in 1956 £2 was a respectable sum.

“The Ambassador Hotel, a white and not very tall building, towered above the wooden shops outside which hung paper lanterns; pink and blue streamers criss-crossed the narrow curling street; the clip-clop of geta was the predominant noise.

“The hotel no longer exists and the wooden shops have been demolished to make room for giant blocks. But in the summer of 1956 the atmosphere was distinctly Japanese and, to me, attractively foreign.”

– “Remembering Japan” (from Japan Experiences: Fifty Years, One Hundred Views), contributed by John Haylock, 2001

Ambassador Hotel luggage tag, c.1960.