japan · Year round · best Mar–May, Oct–Nov
The Park Hyatt at midnight. The omakase counter where the chef does not hand you a menu. Ginza for the watches, Shibuya for the sneakers, Daikanyama for the bookshops. Tokyo, the city our clients always say is the one they will return to first.
Where to begin
The addresses I would send to a friend on the first visit. The full guide is below.
Palace · 5★The Otemachi Tower address — eighty-four suites at altitude, the largest spa in the city, and the most considered service in Tokyo.
Spa · 2,500 m²Two floors and 2,500 square metres above Otemachi — onsen-style baths, a thirty-metre pool on the skyline, and the city's reference treatment menu.
Grill · 52nd floorThe Park Hyatt grill on the 52nd, restored to its original black-and-chrome — the Lost in Translation bar, intact.
Icon · 5★The Lost in Translation tower, reopened December 2025 after a nineteen-month renewal — restored, not replaced.
Modern Japanese · 2★ MichelinZaiyu Hasegawa's two-star kitchen — the most quietly inventive Japanese tasting room in the city.
Tennis · 10 clay courtsThe historic Minami-Azabu lawn tennis club — clay courts, 1900 foundation, the private club the international community has used for over a century.
Palace · 5★Marunouchi facing the Imperial Palace, Forbes Five-Star for the ninth consecutive year — the steady palace in the city.
Sushi · Ginza counterThe Ono counter in the Ginza basement — ten seats, two seatings, hotel-introduced reservations only.
Golf · day passThe forested 18-hole courses an hour out of the city on the Tomei Expressway — Kanagawa and Shizuoka, the round for the day off.
Hotels
Book the room.
Design · 5★Kengo Kuma for Ian Schrager, 206 rooms with Tokyo Tower views — the design hotel for the design-led week.
Ryokan · 5★The vertical ryokan in Otemachi — tatami floors, the shoeless rule, and a private onsen on the seventeenth.
Festive · clubs, line-ups, long lunches
Reserve the table for the night out.
Modern French · 3★ MichelinShinobu Namae's three-star French-Japanese tasting room — Relais & Châteaux, Michelin Green Star, the most considered modern dinner in Tokyo.
Modern Australian · GinzaThe Ginza grill from the original Luke Mangan group, now independent — the late-night Australian kitchen in central Tokyo.
Authentic · the quiet rooms
Reserve the quiet dinner.
Kaiseki · 3★ MichelinSeiji Yamamoto's three-star kaiseki at Hibiya — fifteen consecutive years at three stars, and the fugu course from January to March.
Sushi · 3★ Michelin equivalentTakashi Saito's eight-seat counter — La Liste's world No. 1 (2024), reservations through regulars only.
Kaiseki · 2★ MichelinToru Okuda's Ginza counter — a 700-year-old cypress bar and the most refined kaiseki room in the district.