Of all the rooms in the Prince Asaka Residence, the salon, together with the great dining hall that adjoins it and the terrace facing south onto the garden, embodies the true chic of Art Deco design. The columns with their Ionic-style crowns are made of sycamore wood. On the ceiling, the chandeliers are set off by the plaster molding in a zigzag pattern. The paintings on the wooden panels on the upper part of the walls are by Henri Rapin. Geometric floral motifs can be seen throughout this room, in the chandelier designed by Réne Lalique, the ornamental ironwork tympani by Raymond Subes over the doors, and in the silver-frost etched glass by Max Ingrand set in the doors.

The great dining hall can be divided from the adjoining salon by closing the sliding etched-glass doors between the two rooms. In the great dining hall, the large circular bay of windows overlooking the garden gives the space an open feel. In keeping with its role as a place where guests would take meals, food motifs are used on the doors and the light fixtures. The glass-relief ceiling light by Réne Lalique employs a fruit motif while a motif of pineapples and pomegranates while the radiator covers are decorated with a design of fish and seashells. The oil painting above the fireplace is by Henri Rapin, depicting a garden with a fountain and a red pergola. The botanical themed wall relief was designed by Ivan-Léon Blanchot. During the residence’s construction, a concrete relief with this design was sent from France, but it cracked during transit. Artisans in Japan made a plaster cast of it and finished it with a silvery grey paint.

This staircase in the center of the house leads from the public spaces used for entertaining to the family’s living area on the second floor. In effect, the space provides a transition from the French-style Art Deco styling of the first floor to the Japanese-style Art Deco space above. Marble is used for the steps, the handrail and the wainscoting panels that cover the lower half of the walls. The stone is bianco carrara and two other types of imported marble. The decorative elements of the handrail incorporate the zigzag pattern that is characteristic of Art Deco design, worked in pleasing balance with the lines of the handrail itself. The metalwork along the staircase is done in bronze. The lightening fixtures, including the illuminated pillar at the top of the staircase, incorporate floral designs that became a characteristic pattern of the Art Deco style. One can see the careful attention to design in details such as the water basin built in around the base of the illuminated pillar so it could be decorated with fresh flowers.

The living spaces for the prince’s family, including the second-floor hall at the top of the main staircase, were designed primarily by the head architects of the Imperial Household Ministry’s Construction Bureau. Various Japanese elements were incorporated in the design of these rooms, including the use of the traditional Japanese seigaiha (blue ocean wave) pattern on the radiator registers. In addition, patterns were worked with a trowel into the plastering on the walls, and the quality of this work is testament to the high level of skill of Japanese plasterers at the time. A long sofa built in under the windows provides comfortable seating, and when the prince’s family lived in the residence, there was a piano here. This was space in which the family could come together to relax.

A suite of rooms for the young prince occupies approximately 2/3 of the space on the eastern side of the second floor. The three rooms in the suite are the young prince’s bedroom, dressing room and sitting room. The lighting fixtures in all three rooms were domestically made and designed by Masao Mizutani of the Imperial Household Ministry’s Construction Bureau. The high level of craftsmanship exhibited here is one of highlights of the former Prince Asaka Residence. The bay windows in the young prince’s bedroom are from the time of construction and still have the original sashes.

This young prince’s sitting room is situated directly over the front entrance hall, and its veranda is built over the roof of the port-cochère at the front of the residence.
The room is almost a perfect square with the round columns providing accent. When the residence was built, the wall paper in this room was dark blue. The white shikkui plaster ceiling is finished with a beautiful circular inset from which hangs a stained-glass lighting fixture that casts the room with a warm atmosphere.
The flooring on the veranda is done in with clinker tiles, a building material that came into wide use following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

The study is a square room which, by virtue of the shelving built into four corners, is rendered nearly round in shape. There are eight columns made of lemonwood spaced around the room, and the domed ceiling with its indirect recessed lighting brings the eye to the center of the room. All the furnishings, including the carpet, desk and chairs were designed by Henri Rapin. Next to the study is a small library.

The décor in this room is more subdued than in the prince’s sitting room or study, providing a calm atmosphere well suited to sleeping quarters. The doors and columns are made of camphor wood. The four wooden doors feature natural irregularities in the grain of the wood that enhance the décor of the room. The pattern in the wood comes from a knot in the tree; the section with the knot was cut horizontally into panels to reveal a relatively large concentric pattern.

Touches such as the oval mirror in the white door and the cloth-shaded ceiling lamp that can be adjusted up or down give this room a feminine feel. The princess herself created the design for the heating registers.

Known as the North Room because of its position on the north side of the residence, on the opposite side of the building from the south-facing veranda, this room was used as a place for the family to gather in the heat of summer. Skylights in the ceiling bring in natural light, giving the feeling that one is outdoors. Great care went into the details of this room, from the striking vertical pattern carved into the teakwood trim to the mosaic pattern laid in the floor done in nunome (linen-patterned) porcelain tile. An interior wall with large windows separates this room from the second-floor hall; the framing for these windows is done in an attractive pattern of vertical and horizontal lines, lending a modern feel to the room.

The Winter Garden was built on the roof level as a conservatory in which to raise plants and flowers during the winter. There is shelving for plants, as well as a water faucet and drains. The black and white checkered floor is laid with artificial marble, while the panel on the wall is done in domestic marble. The fact that this difference in materials cannot easily be detected is testimony to the skill of the artisans who contributed to the construction of the residence. The room is furnished with chairs designed by Marcel Breuer. Prince Asaka personally purchased the chairs at a special exhibition on new German architecture and design, held in May 1923 at the Matsuzakaya Department Store in Tokyo.