Location
5-8-10 Minami Azabu
Minato-Ku
Tokyo 106-0047
Japan
Contact
Telephone: (81) 3-3442-8171
Facsimile: (81) 3-3442-8174
Details
Announcement: 9 August 1975
Construction Commencement: 10 April 1978
Public Open House: 15 September–18 October 1980
Dedication: 27–29 October 1980 by Spencer W. Kimball
Site: 0.46 acres.
Exterior Finish: Structural steel and reinforced concrete faced with 289 panels of precast stone, having the appearance of light gray granite.
Ordinance Rooms: Two ordinance rooms (stationary) and five sealing.
Total Floor Area: 52,590 square feet.
Temple Locale:
The Tokyo Japan Temple is located in one of the loveliest residential areas of Tokyo across from the lush vegetation of historical Arisugawa Memorial Park. The site was chosen for its location near many schools and embassies. Transportation to the temple is excellent, as only a five-minute walk is required from the Hiroo subway station.
Temple Facts:
The Tokyo Japan Temple was the first temple built in Asia (and in Japan).
The Tokyo Japan Temple was originally named the Tokyo Temple.
The Tokyo Japan Temple is one of two temples where a traditional groundbreaking ceremony was not held. (The other is the Paris France Temple.)
The Tokyo Japan Temple was built on the site of the former mission home. Additional property was successfully acquired on either side, allowing for a more beautiful and functional building to be designed and adjoining annexes to be added for worker apartments and patron housing.
Visitors to the public open house of the Tokyo Japan Temple numbered about 48,000. Some attended in the robes of their religion.
A gilded statue of the angel Moroni was added to the spire of the Tokyo Japan Temple on December 10, 2004.
Temple History:
On Sunday, July 17, 1949, Elder Matthew Cowley made the first prophecy regarding the Tokyo Japan Temple at the dedicatory services for the old Tokyo mission home—the site where the temple now stands. Elder Harrison Ted Price, a missionary serving in the Northern Far East Mission, recorded in his journal: "In this prayer, he told of countless blessings from the Lord that have been enjoyed here to date, and went on to prophesy—'there will someday be many church buildings—and even TEMPLES built in the land.'"1
President Spencer W. Kimball announced the building of the temple at a Tokyo area conference held August 9, 1975. The audience reacted with spontaneous applause followed by tears of appreciation while they held their hands high to sustain the proposal.2
Mission President Harrison T. Price, who was present as a missionary for Elder Cowley's dedication of the mission home and prophecy of the temple in 1949, was called to supervise demolition of mission headquarters to make way for the temple.3
One of the contractors was suprised to learn the building project was a temple. He recognized that the Buddhist and Shinto religions built shrines and temples and that Christian churches built meetinghouses and cathedrals, but he had never heard of a Christian church building a temple. He was told the temple would be "a sacred building, a holy house, where the glorious work of salvation for the living and the dead would be carried out, where baptisms for the dead and other ordinances would be performed to bring about the joining of wife to husband, children to parents, for the living as well as the dead, and where families would be sealed together for time and for all eternity."4
On December 10, 2004, an angel Moroni statue was added to the spire of the temple, as witnessed by hundreds of applauding onlookers. Although rain was forecasted for the 10th, the day was beautiful and clear. The scaffolding was taken down the following week, revealing a more beautiful and magnificent temple than before.5
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1. Carol Moses, "To Build a House of the Lord," Tambuli Oct. 1980: 7.
2. Adney Y. Komatsu, "Faith and Works in the Far East," Ensign Nov. 1975: 88.
3. Richard O. Cowan, Temples to Dot the Earth (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, Incorporated, 1997) 183.
4. Adney Y. Komatsu, "The House of the Lord," Ensign, Nov. 1983: 27.
5. David van der Leek, "Tokyo Temple - Angel Moroni," Online posting, 18 Dec. 2004, 19 Dec. 2004 <http://www.mission.net/japan/tokyo/north/news.php?nID=2363>.