Lights out for Tokyo's modernist masterpiece Hotel Okura

Japan's iconic Hotel Okura in Tokyo, the sixties-era modernist masterpiece that hosted US presidents, royalty, celebrities and spy James Bond, begins a four year renovation on August 31. - AFP / Yoshikazu Tsuno

Tokyo (AFP) - Tokyo's sixties-era modernist masterpiece Hotel Okura, which hosted foreign leaders, royalty, celebrities and even James Bond, turns off the lights Monday, more than a half century after it heralded Japan's post-war coming out party.

Despite an outcry from preservationists, the prestigious 53-year-old property shuts its doors for a four-year makeover that will give way to a gleaming highrise hotel -- the latest heritage building to undergo a facelift in the ultra-modern Japanese megalopolis.