Sad sayonara to a Tokyo landmark

The classic Japanese entry to Tokyo's Hotel Okura has welcomed guests since it was built half a century ago.

Enclosed by a rustling bamboo forest, this tranquil path connects the Kamiyacho subway station to Tokyo's Hotel Okura.

Illuminated with soft lighting from gem-shaped lanterns (a Hotel Okura signature), the peaceful main lobby was designed to be the hotel's most relaxing spot.

In a corner of the lobby, shoji doors back lit with shadows of swaying bamboo resemble a Japanese ink painting brought to life.

Hotel Okura's guest rooms have housed many VIPs, including Princess Diana, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama.

The Okura Shukokan Museum -- currently closed for renovations -- became Japan's first private art museum in 1917 but was destroyed in an earthquake in 1923. Located in front of the hotel's main building, it was restored by architect Chuta Ito and now houses three national treasures and 12 important cultural properties.

Okura Hotel's Bar Highlander whiskey lounge serves cocktails that have long fallen out of favor elsewhere in the world.

Hotel Okura's outdoor swimming pool was designed by sculptor Tsutomu Hiroi to be an oasis within the bustling city of Tokyo.

Hotel Okura's tea ceremony room is a model of simplicity and elegance.

Added in 1973, Hotel Okura's south wing will remain open during renovations. Its interior is meant to showcase the beauty of Japanese design -- the lobby features a flock of ceramic mosaic birds.

The design of the Kyokusui Japanese Garden is based on ancient traditions.

• Main building of Tokyo's Hotel Okura will be torn down to make way for a bigger hotel in advance of 2020 Olympics


• Built in 1962, Hotel Okura has remained largely untouched over more than five decades


• Monocle magazine recently started a petition to save the old Okura

(CNN) -- If you've never been to Tokyo's Hotel Okura, you're missing out on one of the true accommodation stars of Asia -- a beautiful time capsule of a hotel that glorifies the design and service of Japan in the 1960s.

It's one of my favorite places to stay in the world.

Next August, however, its main building is slated for tearing down to make way for a new, bigger hotel in advance of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Okura's problem is also its main appeal -- it seems stuck in time.

Built in 1962, before Tokyo's last Olympics, the hotel is a masterpiece of Japanese aesthetics and modernist design that's remained largely untouched over more than five decades.

It's hard not to fall in love with the elegance of the main lobby, lit by hanging, hexagonal lanterns and furnished with chairs and tables that resemble plum blossoms.

Okura Hotel's Bar Highlander whiskey lounge.

The map with a Seiko clock -- displaying time zones in cities across the world -- still includes Leningrad as an option.

The Bar Highlander whiskey lounge serves cocktails that have long fallen out of favor elsewhere in the world.

Devoted staff look after customers with a level of devotion that's rapidly disappearing elsewhere.

After helping me buy tickets to a baseball game in Yokohama last year, I was given a packet of directions not just to the city or the stadium, but to my actual seat.

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Not the time nor the place for progress

I even love all the things about the Okura that annoy my friends and colleagues.

Though the rooms have been renovated since the '60s, they feel cramped and outdated by modern standards.

Sending the most petite lady on staff to deliver 100 kilos of camera equipment to my room isn't a great display of hotel management.

And the room service menu is, I think, the most expensive in Asia. (For the money, that better be the best burger in the entire world.)

Somehow the origami turtle on my pillow seems to make up for all manner of faults.

On the whole, though, the Hotel Okura makes up for in character whatever it lacks in efficiency or modern amenities.

In Asia, a part of the world defined by an ethos of tear-it-down and build-it-back-bigger (and faster and more tech savvy), the Hotel Okura pays homage to best of the way things used to be.

The hotel says the new building will maintain the traditional Japanese aesthetic and the concept of the lobby, but it seems impossible that a new building will be everything the old one was.

The Okura Shukokan Museum -- currently closed for renovations -- is located in front of the hotel's main building.

I know there's a time and place for progress and renovation.

I just don't think it's this time or this place.

The folks at Monocle magazine have started a petition to save the old Okura.

I hope they succeed.

If they don't, I'll be booking a room next August to say goodbye.

Hotel Okura Tokyo , 2-10-4 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo; +81 (0)3 3582 0111; rooms from ¥23,500 ($230)

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