The Hoshinoya Hotel is in the heart of Tokyo’s economic centre Maranouchi. A short walk from the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station it sits amongst the office towers, from the outside you can see the metal skin screening the facade (a design akin to interlinked lotus flowers).
The hotel was designed by architect Rie Azuma who has designed the first four of the Hoshinoya Hotels for the Hoshino Hotel Group (there are now eight Hoshinoya Ryokan Hotels, six in Japan with one in Taiwan and another in Bali).
The intention from the outset was to create a traditional Japanese Ryokan (a luxury one at that) in a Tokyo tower.
Like all traditional ryokan the first step on arrival is for the guest to remove their shoes. A simple gesture but the intent is to make guests feel that the whole hotel is their home, not just the room they are sleeping in.
Azuma used this as the basis for the interior design, making every walkable surface including corridors were layered with soft tatami matting.
When I was first given the opportunity to build a resort in Tokyo, I found myself at a loss. After all, the charms of the city are already well-known to so many people around the world.
After toiling to formulate one concept after another to no avail, I switched gears and followed a new line of thought. Instead of focusing on what we could offer our guests, I began to think about what we could offer Tokyo. That was how I arrived at the idea of a tower ryokan. There are many elements of traditional Japanese culture that are slowly disappearing from Tokyo. The modern Tokyoite does not see a place for ryokan in the city. In my thinking, if one ryokan manages to remain in Tokyo years from now, it will be for one reason: Because it has evolved to become even more accommodating and intuitive than the Western hotel.
Yoshiharu Hoshino (CEO of Hoshino Resorts)
HOTEL ROOMS
Rooms at the Hoshinoya Tokyo are in a traditional Japanese style, they have tatami floors and sofas with cypress frames. Each room has a deep cyprus bathtub as well as a large shower. The rooms all have shoji paper screens as well as double glazing and the external screen to filter the light into the living area.
On each floor there is a Ochanoma Lounge for guests staying on that floor (there are six rooms on each floor) there are a wide selection of snacks, tea, coffee, beer and even ice cream. It is a lovely spot to sit and read or even do a little work.
There are just 84 rooms in this 17 story building the size of the rooms range from the generous Yuri (41m2) and Sakura (49m2) rooms to the Kiku Room (83m2) which also has a dining table, small desk and sofa.
ONSEN/HOT SPRING
The top floor of Hoshinoya Tokyo has an Onsen with water drawn from 1500 meters below ground. The water has a high saline content and is said to be good for the skin there is an inside pool and an outdoor bath that is accessed by a cave like tunnel in the bath itself. Once outside the is privacy from the buildings around you can see the Tokyo sky but not the buildings as you look up.
RESTAURANT
In the basement dinner is served as Nippon Cuisine a blend of Japanese and French techniques prepared by Executive Chef Ryosuke Oka and team to reflect the very best Japanese ingredients.
The experience of dining in the Hoshinoya was a little peculiar. Arriving in the basement we wandered around for a while looking for a restaurant or dining room. It is something of a warren down there and unsuccessful we returned to the reception.
Reception made some calls and we returned to the basement, this time we were met and led to one of the private rooms, here we had exceptional service and an excellent meal but the location was a little distant and formal for my taste.
The food however was really excellent.
EXPERIENCE
Staying at the Hoshinoya is exactly as designed a warm, relaxing ryokan in the city, since it opened in 2016 the hotel has had constant recognition for being somewhat unique but also excellent in everything it delivered, this was recognised in 2023 with the Hoshinoya Tokyo being recognised in the Best 50 Hotels in the World.
Room prices range from ¥41,850 to ¥77,850 per night.
Dinner is ¥33,880.