The New Otani Tokyo Hotel

Once you step into The New Otani, it’s easy to get lost among the restaurants, cafés and boutiques — and that’s before you even make it to your room. This isnot your typical city hotel, but a sprawling, self-contained microcosm — part luxury complex, part retro time capsule. Built for the 1964 Olympics on the historic site of a samurai estate in a feat of engineering, it is well used tohosting heads of state and theworld’s glitterati. Culinaryofferings range from the legendary Tour d’Argent to a Pierre Hermé pâtisserie, but the real surprise is the 400-year-old Japanese garden, providing a haven just moments from the frenzy of Roppongi and Shinjuku. Add to this the refined intimacy of the Executive House Zen rooms, an exclusive ‘hotel within the hotel’ and you get the full picture: it isn’t just a hotel; it’s a world in itself.

Words and photography by Marina Spironetti. Doubles from £480. +81 33265 1111, newotani.co.jp