Aman Tokyo
The Otemachi Tower, 1-5-6 Otemachi, Chiyoda-Ku, amanresorts.com; 84 rooms from $758 (75,000 Japanese yen).
This latest addition to Aman’s string of resort escapes has upended the brand’s reputation for luxurious, tranquil accommodation in ultraremote locations. Found in the dazzling and seductive intensity of one of the world’s busiest cities, Aman Tokyo is a surprisingly serene oasis. The hotel is secreted away on the top six floors of a new banking tower and its 84 rooms overlook the Imperial Palace gardens, Tokyo Bay and the city’s skyscraper forest. Through the simplicity and subtlety of its modern design and incorporation of Japanese traditional elements, Aman Tokyo has managed to feel as remote as a Zen monastery in the fast beating heart of Tokyo’s commercial centre.
LOCATION, LOCATION
The hotel is a five-minute walk from the Tokyo train station or (for an added fee) a short ride in a hotel limo from the airport. Aman Tokyo is also a few train stops from Ginza, Tokyo’s destination for Gucci-esque shopping and neon-illuminated nightlife. But it is nearby Nihonbashi, a pleasant 15-minute walk, that is a treasure house of tiny restaurants, traditional shops and bars in its warren of alleys. Some shops have been in the same families for centuries: Saruya has made handcrafted toothpicks (sumayouji) since 1704; Yamamotoyama, purveyors of tea and seaweed, has been around since 1690; there is a legacy tailor, calligraphy shop and a Saki store. But if time is too short for meandering, Nihonbashi is also the home of Japan’s oldest department store, Mitsukoshi (make sure you get to the fourth floor and see a collection of museum-worthy kimonos).
DESIGN
Singapore architect Kerry Hill’s brilliant juxtaposition of serenity within the staccato of downtown Tokyo begins the moment you step into the lobby, which soars 30-metres through the centre of the building. Lower black-slate walls reference the stone of medieval Japanese castles, and framing the space is white washi paper stretched over a pale wood frame. Calming translucent light fills the atrium and it feels as if you are inside a Japanese paper lantern. Add to this traditional arrangements of branches and blossoms in a black reflecting pool, and rock gardens created by a Zen master, and no wonder you’re so relaxed. One of my favourite room features? A hidden TV screen that appears out of nowhere with the push of a button.
EAT IN OR EAT OUT?
I’d come back to the hotel just for the Japanese breakfast served in small pottery bowls and delicate wooden boxes filled with shaved vegetables, small slices of baked fish and Japanese fruits. Tea included, of course. But eating local can only take you so far if you’re a caffeine-addicted North American. Luckily, this hotel gets the espresso just right, too. Breakfast aside, there isn’t much Japanese cuisine to be had in the hotel. Its signature restaurant (with the rather uninspired name The Restaurant) specializes in Mediterranean cuisine, though its Japanese, Italian-trained chef, Eiji Ohata, does manage a stylish collaboration among his culinary influences with dishes such as sea bass with kombu. For visiting sushi aficionados, take a comfortable 15-minute walk to Yoshino-zushi, a 10-seat restaurant that is the real deal. Open since 1879, it serves kohada, a sushi popular in the Edo period.
BEST AMENITY
Hmmm. Is it the session with the Samurai master to learn basic swordsmanship or the library lined with Japanese architecture, design and art tomes, or the enormous spa with the genius Pilates sensei Azusa Yoshida? A big arigatou gozaimasu to all, but I’ll take a deluxe room with its black basalt ofuro (hot soaking tub) and Mount Fuji views, instead.
IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING
Tokyo locals seem to be keen for Mediterranean and Mexican lately, but for visiting wasabi crazed North Americans, an in-house sushi bar would be a treat.
WHOM YOU’LL MEET
Definely the “Amanjunkies,” who are as dedicated to the luxury chain as Deadheads to the Grateful Dead (though infinitely more sophisticated and not nearly as hirsute). These wealthy devotees view the hotel as a retreat where they can come to find a lost quiet centre in themselves. “It’s the wood and stone. So simple,” says Sao Paolo engineer Fernando Polato, who seems content to sit quietly alone in the lobby for hours. Toronto honeymooners, Kate O’Shaughnessy and Chris Denny-Brown (coming from Aman Marrakech to Aman Tokyo) say the appeal is obvious, “When you walk in, it feels like a welcome home.”
The writer was a guest of the hotel.