4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi: An ultramodern lodge in a historic neighborhood

Though it is situated in considered one of Tokyo’s oldest neighborhoods, the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is definitely one of many metropolis’s latest resorts.

Even 4 Seasons followers won’t have had the prospect to go to because it opened throughout Japan’s pandemic-related border closures in September 2020. That additionally means the lodge nonetheless seems contemporary and fabulous, much more than three years after it first welcomed visitors.

Whereas its location in one of many capital’s important monetary districts implies that the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is a superb alternative for enterprise vacationers, it additionally overlooks the gardens of the Imperial Palace and is a fast subway trip away from glitzy Ginza, historic Asakusa and most of the metropolis’s important points of interest, so even first-time leisure vacationers ought to discover it interesting.

After all, the panoramic views from its Thirty ninth-floor foyer, a swanky craft cocktail bar, a Michelin-starred modern French restaurant and a serene spa — full with onsen-style ofuros (soaking baths) — all lend to its attract as nicely.

Here is all the pieces you might want to know concerning the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi and why it is one of many Japanese capital’s greatest luxurious resorts.

Getting there

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is in one of many metropolis’s important monetary districts, Chiyoda, and straight throughout from the Imperial Palace grounds. That is to say, it is fairly central.

For those who’re flying into Tokyo’s Haneda Worldwide Airport (HND), a taxi or ride-hailing service can value anyplace from $55-$80 and takes round 30-60 minutes relying on the time of day and visitors. You may as well take the subway for about 550 Japanese yen ($3.70), which is able to take about an hour and require a change of traces.

These flying into Tokyo’s Narita Worldwide Airport (NRT) can count on a drive of anyplace from about one to 2 hours at a value that may vary as much as $200 if utilizing taxis or ride-hailing companies. You may as well take the Narita Categorical practice to Tokyo Station for 3,700 yen per individual ($24.70) every manner — there are additionally cheaper round-trip passes — and take the subway to Otemachi station from there.

For those who plan to catch a practice to different locations in Japan from Tokyo Station, it’s going to take simply 10 minutes (and about $10) by way of taxi or ride-hailing service. The lodge is one cease (5 minutes or so) on the Marunouchi subway line from Tokyo Station, and a trip will value a mere 180 yen ($1.20).

Reserving particulars

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi’s 162 rooms and 28 suites are situated on flooring 34-38 of a 39-story tower, whereas the reception space, eating places, lounge, spa and gymnasium are situated on the highest degree.

Lodging vary from the Superior Rooms — Metropolis View class, which begins at 527 sq. toes, all the best way as much as the three,046-square-foot, two-bedroom Imperial Suite, which additionally has an expansive lounge, a eating room for as much as eight visitors and a non-public spa remedy room.

I stayed in a 4 Seasons Suite — Imperial Backyard View lodging that was a powerful 818 sq. toes with a big lounge space and bed room in an open-flow flooring plan and a spacious lavatory with sweeping views to the west.

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is a part of American Categorical’ Positive Inns + Resorts, so if in case you have The Platinum Card® from American Categorical or The Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Categorical, you can also make a reserving by way of amextravel.com and obtain perks like availability-based upgrades, as much as a $100 credit score to make use of on-property throughout your keep for issues like drinks or meals, complimentary day by day breakfast for 2 and assured late checkout.

The lodge can be a part of the Chase Luxurious Resort & Resort Assortment, so if in case you have an eligible card and make your reserving by way of Chase Journey, you possibly can make the most of advantages like day by day breakfast for 2, an availability-based room improve, early check-in and late checkout based mostly on availability, a welcome reward and a $100 property credit score for use throughout your keep.

Eligible playing cards embody:

Make sure you e-book by way of a channel that affords you essentially the most advantages attainable. For those who do not need a card that is eligible to make use of by way of one of many above applications, you possibly can think about reserving by way of a journey agent who’s a 4 Seasons Most well-liked Associate and might acquire related perks for shoppers.

Charges on the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi over the following a number of months begin at round $800 per evening. Nightly costs for the Imperial Backyard View suite I used to be in begin at round $1,700 per evening.

Standout options

• Spacious and superbly designed rooms that evoke a way of place … however with modern sensibilities
• Gorgeous public areas that embody a foyer with among the greatest views in Tokyo and a cocktail lounge that feels each occurring and unique
• One of many metropolis’s greatest spas, the place therapies incorporate high-end Valmont and Omorovicza merchandise
• Employees members who know every visitor by title inside an hour of check-in and who proffer (wonderful) personalised ideas for issues to do (and locations to eat) across the metropolis

Drawbacks

• The situation is central and simply accessible, however its setting within the monetary district can really feel quite quiet within the night and on weekends.
• These seeking to pattern conventional Japanese delicacies won’t discover it on the lodge’s important eating places, which skew extra European.
• The excessive value level will probably be past many vacationers, however these capable of splurge ought to think about a keep.

The vibe

Perched on a number of prime flooring of a skyscraper overlooking Tokyo’s Imperial Palace grounds, the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi exudes an aura of rarefication and gives a welcome respite from the busy metropolis streets and subway stations beneath.

Stepping out of the elevators into the Thirty ninth-floor foyer, the very first thing that catches the attention is a dramatic water characteristic that appears to tug the skin atmosphere indoors and displays the altering gentle all through the day.

Simply past, on the all-day cafe and restaurant referred to as the Lounge, you would possibly spot enterprise vacationers speaking offers over espresso or cocktails throughout the week or well-heeled locals stopping in with buddies or household on the weekend for particular events like a winter strawberry afternoon tea.

Within the night, the cocktail bar, Virtu, comes alive with {couples} perusing the menu of handcrafted cocktails, almost every impressed by a legend or fairy story, whereas Michelin-starred Est is the place to impress both a colleague or a date with a dinner of French-inspired dishes created with fastidiously chosen seasonal Japanese components.

Regardless of why you are right here, depend on the pleasant workers to supply heat however polished service with the clear intent to make your keep as comfy and memorable as attainable with every interplay.

Do not forget to search for from the reception desk to admire the sun-inspired cupola, whose inside is embellished with the Japanese characters for the seasons created in free-form calligraphy by artist Nobuko Kawahara. Just under, an suave floral show based mostly on the standard Japanese artwork of flower association creates a pure focus for the house.

The room

My 4 Seasons Suite — Imperial Backyard View had, true to its title, an uninterrupted panorama to the west of the Imperial Palace grounds and, on the winter mornings of my keep, a crystal-clear vista all the best way to a snow-cowled Mount Fuji.

At over 800 sq. toes, there was quite a lot of floor to cowl. To the appropriate of the entry lobby was a powder room, whereas to the left was the large closet with house for baggage, hanging garments and loads of drawers, together with the secure.

The in any other case open flooring plan included each a small lounge and the bed room with washi-paper and wooden-latticed sliding doorways main into the lavatory, all envisioned by architectural agency Denniston’s lead designer, Jean-Michel Gathy.

The lounge comprised a pillow-populated sofa and armchair together with a small desk and chair that doubled as a workspace because of a console with plugs and retailers galore. The palette was principally metal- and mineral-toned with accents of ochre, gold and lapis lazuli. Above all of it, on the wall, fossil-like items of artwork have been fastidiously affixed to evoke a way of transient magnificence.

The minibar, in the meantime, held a collection of snacks like nuts spiced with black pepper and honey together with a number of Japanese-produced spirits, together with Keys & Bricks vodka and Sakurao gin, a Nespresso espresso maker and kettle and Narumi china with which to take pleasure in scorching drinks.

Backed by an ornamental wall with a print by artist Namiko Kitaura resembling a breeze-blown silk scarf and going through the wall of home windows, the king-size mattress was wearing sateen sheets with the model’s brand embroidered into the shams.

To both facet was a panel of controls for the lights and curtains together with nightstands — a Bluetooth speaker and the telephone on one facet, and a pill for benefiting from the lodge’s facilities on the opposite. The lengthy, low desk set towards the home windows held vases with flowers and a big flat-screen tv.

The toilet had burnished black stone flooring and counters, with partitions clad in attractively striated grey limestone. Two sinks punctuated the room-length vainness counter, anchored alongside a mirrored wall, and have been provisioned with Diptyque hand cleaning soap and lotion.

There have been additionally Diptyque merchandise ready within the walk-in bathe, which had each an overhead and a wall-mounted handheld showerhead. The separate water closet held a Toto rest room with a panel of controls for varied features.

The standout characteristic, nevertheless, needed to be the deep soaking tub close to the window … all the higher for soaking within the views whilst you soaked in heat waters with offered yuzu-scented bathtub salts.

Food and drinks

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is residence to 4 eating places and bars, all with phenomenal views because of their location on the Thirty ninth flooring.

The Lounge is adjoining to the reception space and the elevators and is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visitors can tuck right into a gamut of worldwide fare like a smoked salmon and quinoa salad ($21), a wagyu cheeseburger ($33) and Tokyo shoyu ramen ($26) in addition to plentiful petits fours and cookies for takeaway. The Lounge additionally serves the lodge’s signature afternoon tea ($59-$79 per individual), which might fluctuate seasonally.

Pigneto, the lodge’s all-day restaurant, is situated simply previous the Lounge and serves a lavish breakfast unfold earlier than transitioning into an Italian eatery for lunch and dinner. Continental breakfast ($36 per individual) features a collection of chilly objects from the buffet, together with contemporary fruit, day by day altering pastries like a seeded croissant full of candy purple bean paste and varied pickled greens over steamed rice.

The total breakfast ($45 per individual), in the meantime, consists of each hot and cold buffet choices in addition to some a la carte dishes like avocado eggs Benedict or contemporary grilled fish of the day with steamed rice and miso soup.

The Italian lunch and dinner menus present acquainted choices like fried calamari with aioli ($25); linguine with prawns, zucchini and tomato ($31); and quite a lot of handmade pizzas ($19-$41); in addition to desserts like home made tiramisu ($15) and gelato ($14).

Meander throughout the reception space and thru a book- and curio-lined hall to get to the lodge’s important cocktail bar, Virtu, and the Michelin one-starred restaurant, Est.

Virtu epitomizes a cosmopolitan lodge watering gap, with moody lighting, loads of intimate cubicles and window seats, a full of life bar with bottles stretching to the ceiling and a counter the place the mixologists theatrically assemble libations impressed by each legends and fairy tales.

Topped by a rose-shaped ice dice customary from cranberry and ginger, La Belle et la Bete (Magnificence and the Beast) is a heady concoction of Hoji tea-infused vodka and liqueur with fragrant bitters and ginger beer ($22). The Smoked Ume Usual mixes Michter’s bourbon, Japanese whiskey and bitter plum-infused brandy to supply some chunk, completed with mellow smoked hinoki bitters after which smoked with cherry wooden earlier than a garnish of bitter plum, cherry and orange peel ($23).

Drink up, then head subsequent door to elegant Est, the place the eating room is hushed however full of life, creating an atmosphere without delay intimate but energetic during which visitors can savor chef Guillaume Bracaval’s 10-course modern French tasting menus composed of hyper-seasonal (there are apparently 72 seasons!) Japanese components, 95% of which come from inside the nation ($200 per individual).

Your meal would possibly begin with a fluffy beignet full of Swiss chard and white cheese and a chunk of Spanish mackerel cured with salt and sugar, then garnished with a kumquat and inexperienced pepper crust.

The array of tastes to return consists of delicacies like succulent Hokkaido abalone in beurre blanc and Jerusalem artichoke puree with tarragon and butter completed with a quenelle of briny French caviar. Count on a dish centered round a juicy filet of fish, resembling seabass from the coast of Kyushu, over cauliflower puree with shiitake and maitake mushrooms, however go away room for the unctuous filet of Hokkaido wagyu beef with a tangy yuzu-kosho crust.

You are nearly to the end line, however not earlier than candy bites by pastry chef Michele Abbatemarco, like chestnut mousse and vanilla-bean ice cream with mizkan citrus gelee and a smattering of mignardises made with candies of various provenance and cacao focus.

Earlier than you balk, decide to the wine pairing, if solely to pattern hard-to-find bottles, together with a bespoke sauvignon blanc from the Kyoto prefecture made only for the restaurant and an earthy Kusonoki pinot noir from Nagano.

Facilities and repair

Throughout from reception on the Thirty ninth flooring, the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi has a wellness middle with a spa, gymnasium and kitted-out locker rooms.

Visitors enter by way of a hushed, dim hall the place varied merchandise starting from teas and skincare merchandise to jewellery, exercise garments and pajamas are on show.

For those who’re coming for a remedy, you will be requested to fill out an info sheet whereas having fun with a cup of scorching or chilly tea (your alternative).

Prepare for the spa with a exercise within the light-filled gymnasium, taking within the surrounding skyscrapers as you pump iron on the LifeFitness weight machines or get some cardio in on the ellipticals or treadmills. Perk up with an espresso or cup of tea, or just seize a towel and bottle of water from the offered facilities.

After, head to the locker room for a rinse in one of many bathe suites, then don your bathing go well with and seize one of many cushioned daybeds that encompass the black-tiled pool with its reflective metallic backside as you ponder the Tokyo skyline some extra.

Again within the locker room, use one of many conventional open seated showers to clean your self as clear as attainable earlier than wallowing within the scorching waters of the window-side ofuro, or conventional soaking bathtub.

After you alter right into a gown and slippers within the locker room, your therapist will escort you to one of many 5 remedy rooms, which have blond wooden flooring and paneling plus huge home windows so you possibly can both have gentle streaming in or ask for the shades to be lowered for a extra soporific setting. With the clang of a standard spherical orin bell, your expertise will begin.

Varied skincare therapies incorporate well-known worldwide manufacturers, resembling a Valmont “Redefinition Facial” to erase these tremendous traces introduced on by jet lag and journey (75 minutes, $246); and an “Omorovicza Blue Diamond Facial” that energizes the pores and skin with peptides earlier than a copper and lactic acid peel completed with a soothing rose-scented masks (90 minutes, $353). The signature “Yakusugi Forest Renewal” physique remedy incorporates an exfoliating scrub and moisturizing physique oil constituted of historical cypresses from the island of Yakushima that may slough away impurities after which evoke a meditative frame of mind (120 minutes, $389).

As you would possibly count on at such a high-end lodge, the workers’s consideration to element on the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi is virtually flawless, mixing 4 Seasons’ well-known worldwide service requirements with conventional Japanese hospitality.

The concierges will probably be glad to do all the pieces from securing you tickets to a sold-out artwork exhibition to recommending the fanciest sushi restaurant in Ginza (or a spot for affordable and engaging gyoza in Shinjuku). Listening to you might want to head to Tokyo station, the bell desk would possibly simply give you the lodge automobile for the short journey, complimentary.

Wait workers on the varied bars and eating places will know you by title as quickly as you might have checked in for a reservation (or simply dropped by for breakfast) and may have your favourite espresso or cocktail order prepared for you in your second go to. They may also patiently stroll you thru any particular dishes or flavors on the menu or just cease by to ask about your day as you admire the view of Mount Fuji within the distance. It is like having your very personal polished however genial hometown squad at your beck and name for something you would possibly require.

Out and about

Though the encircling neighborhood is a monetary district that will get busy by day however tends to empty out by evening, the 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi sits atop the sprawling Otemachi subway station, the place yow will discover all the pieces from comfort shops and informal izakayas to upscale sushi counters and bustling cafes.

You’ll be able to merely stroll throughout the road to discover the Imperial Gardens if the climate is sweet or hop on the metro to succeed in different neighborhoods, together with Asakusa, Shinjuku or Shibuya, in 20-Half-hour. Ginza, with its fancy style boutiques, is only a 10-minute drive away.

Accessibility

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi has wheelchair-accessible parking and an accessible entrance by way of its street-level driveway, in addition to a ground-floor entrance that’s accessible to wheelchairs with no steps (and try the lacquer box-inspired lighting scheme and decor whilst you’re down there).

There are additionally lower-height buttons within the elevators, that are vast sufficient to accommodate wheelchairs, as are the visitor room flooring’ hallways.

The general public areas, eating places and bars on the Thirty ninth flooring are all accessible for wheelchair customers, with no stairs concerned. Nevertheless, stepping into the pool or scorching tub requires using stairs, and there’s no chairlift. The identical is true of the ofuros within the locker rooms.

The lodge has a single wheelchair-accessible Superior Metropolis View room with wider areas to accommodate a chair, a lowered lavatory counter, a roll-in bathe and bathroom seize bars. Listening to-impaired visitors can even request visible notifications for the door and alarm clock.

Testing

The 4 Seasons Resort Tokyo at Otemachi seamlessly melds conventional Japanese parts, together with ikebana floral shows and calligraphy-inspired designs, with a up to date sense of hospitality. It principally appears like Tokyo writ small right into a lodge expertise that may go away you feeling each cosseted in consolation and but uncovered to the enjoyment of the Japanese capital.

Its central location, which is definitely accessible by public transportation, makes it a wonderful alternative for each leisure and enterprise vacationers. And whereas its phenomenal wellness amenities, together with a class-act gymnasium, a calming pool and a halcyon spa, will assist vacationers beat any lingering jet lag, the fanciful cocktails at Virtu and memorable dishes at Est (together with the banter of the bartenders and servers) will make you’re feeling proper at residence, irrespective of how removed from residence you really are.

Associated studying: