I am about to have dinner at one of Tokyo’s most sought-after luxury hotels, right in the heart of the swanky business district of Otemachi. Yet here I am, no makeup, barefoot, and dressed in an onsen robe. It’s not exactly the outfit one would imagine for a fancy night out, but this, I am told, is all part of the experience, and I’m relishing the hotel’s casual approach to its luxe offerings.
Dinner is in the hotel’s guest-only, no-name restaurant located in the basement, so there are no glitzy views of the city, just like the rest of the building. Of course, there is the option of keeping the shoji screens open in your own rooms, but the idea is to forget about the outside world and be completely immersed in the hotel experience. The concept started from a little thought experiment by Yoshiharu Hoshino, CEO of Hoshino Resorts, and one of Japan’s most iconic hoteliers today.
If one were to strip away all the Western notions of luxury, what would a high-end hotel in modern Japan look like? “The Hoshinoya brand is about expressing our definition of luxury in Japan...
based on traditional local culture,” explained Hoshino. Together with his brother, they are the fourth-generation owners responsible for turning their 110-year-old family business from a single ryokan in countryside Karuizawa, to one of the leading luxury hospitality groups in Japan today, with five brands and 71 properties under their belt. Hoshinoya Tokyo is not your standard high-end hotel, and .