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This is a lively, downtown hotel with a fancy new lobby and reception area, an attractive buzz in the upstairs restaurants and an outdoor pool for the summer. Being part of the ANA group, one of Japan’s leading airlines, keeps the folks rolling in. The hotel has a faithful clientele of Japanese and people who have felt better received here than at other, more snobbish, hostelries. It’s a short walk from the many delights of the Akasaka entertainment area.
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This is a well-run, efficient and clean hotel for those who don’t need the frills. Rooms are half the price of some upmarket places. It’s within 10 minutes’ walk of Roppongi Hills and all the joys of that part of town. Oddly, there aren’t many economy class hotels in the heart of the city that cater to foreigners.
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This little hotel is very close to the famous Roppongi Crossing and just up the street from Roppongi Hills. It’s a recently opened, no-frills, low-budget hotel that is clean and well run. Facing a busy street, it can be noisy, but that’s Roppongi for you. The solution is to keep the double-glazed windows closed. Downstairs there is one simple café and the main reception desk. However, they’re not as comfortable for Westerners as one would like.
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The Capitol Tokyu has the great merit of a fine location, with a grand Shinto shrine complex on one side and the spiffy new prime minister’s office—all glass and steel—on the other. The hotel has a long tradition of involvement in national politics. It also boasts a grill, the Keyaki Grill, which was long seen as the best in the city. These days the Keyaki is fighting to get its reputation back after a spell of neglect. The hotel is within striking distance of Akasaka, which is another plus.
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This is, without doubt, one of the most unusual hostelries ever to rise up in Japan. It’s actually a complex institution, in terms of the services it offers. Claska hosts fashion shows, and there’s an open-plan restaurant-cum-bar on the ground floor where interior designers and magazine people congregate. The upper floors are residential, and people stay there for a week or two or more. For a sense of where Japan is going—in design, movies and music—head out to Claska.
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