Tokyo: Where to Stay: Overview

Japan is famous for its love of luxury, yet until fairly recently, its hotels lagged far behind those in other parts of Asia: Tokyoites had to travel to Bangkok or Hong Kong to experience that combination of high-tech hardware and low-tech pampering the region does so well. Not that Tokyo hotels were bad: they just suffered from excessive formality, which put them somewhat out of step with the spa-oriented, informal approach more in vogue these days.

A slew of upmarket-hotel openings has lately righted that wrong, and more are on the way. The first to break the area mold was the Park Hyatt, of Lost in Translation fame, which took the novel step of occupying the upper floors of an office tower. To move between the two, guests must change elevators and walk along a corridor, which might seem inconvenient if the highly stylish walkways didn’t turn the trip into an adventure.

The newly opened Mandarin Oriental and Ritz-Carlton follow the same pattern. Situating their hotels way above the sidewalk allows designers to maximize the view: a now de rigueur Tokyo experience is to swim or work out in the sheer-glass-walled spa zone or to dine in the upper-floor, spectacularly vistaed restaurants, trying to glimpse Mount Fuji through the haze.

The newest kid on the Tokyo block is the Peninsula hotel, which has bagged a prime Ginza spot. Stay there if at all possible: the place has raised the city’s hospitality standard higher still.