My favorite restaurant. Vol.3 "Rendezvous Lounge" by Morioka Masayuki

I first stepped into the Imperial Hotel Tokyo when I was a student working at the Takarazuka Theater next door. I often passed through the hotel on my way to Hibiya Park during my break. At the time, I was living in an apartment in Nakano that cost about 30,000 yen, so it was a different world for me. I looked at people in suits having business meetings and thought to myself, "Adults are amazing." Of course, I didn't even have the concept of going into the lounge, and just enjoyed the space itself. Even now, when I come here, it makes me excited, as if I was looking at the future of Tokyo from the perspective of someone in the 1960s.

After I became a working professional, I finally went to the Rendezvous Lounge with my own money. It's a lounge on the left side of the hotel's main entrance, and I was really nervous. When I sat down, I noticed that the ceiling was high. Also, if there is an appropriate distance to keep when talking to someone or listening to someone, this distance seems to have been calculated and reflected. The word rendezvous in the name of the lounge means "promise" in French, and it's the perfect place for a meeting to make an agreement or something, but I also like to just sit there by myself even when I have nothing to do. "What does it mean to have 24 pillars?" I spend seemingly meaningless time drinking coffee or tea, which is a luxury.