Japan Explore our selections.
Sowaka
HotelAsia, Japan
From $1,050
Sowaka is a 23-room luxury hotel in Gion, Kyoto’s historic geisha district, a two-minute walk from Yasaka Shrine. Its main building is a restored ryotei from the Taisho era, built in the sukiya style and more than a century old, joined by a modern annex added in 2019. The renovation kept the decorated ceilings and windows, patterned timber, clay walls and sliding paper screens, while each room is individually designed, some with tatami and garden views. Dining centers on seasonal kaiseki-inspired cooking at Gion Loka, and the hotel also has a bar and a courtyard garden lounge. The name comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “may happiness be with you.”
K5
HotelAsia, Japan
From $457
K5 is a 20-room hotel in Nihonbashi Kabutocho, Tokyo’s original financial district, set in a 1923 neoclassical building that once served as an annex to Japan’s first bank. Stockholm-based Claesson Koivisto Rune led the conversion, leaving the concrete structure exposed and pairing it with parquet floors, washi lamps, Kvadrat textiles and furniture designed specifically for the hotel. Most rooms measure around 40 square meters, with high ceilings, large windows and a central column veiled in indigo fabric. Downstairs, Caveman serves Nordic-Japanese cooking from the team behind Kabi, Switch Coffee doubles as a plant shop, Ao mixes tea-based cocktails in a red library, and the basement holds Brooklyn Brewery’s first beer hall outside New York.
Park Hyatt Tokyo
HotelAsia, Japan
From $920
Park Hyatt Tokyo occupies the top floors of the Shinjuku Park Tower, designed by Kenzo Tange, and when it opened in 1994 it was the first Park Hyatt in Asia. Guests ride up to a lobby on the 41st floor, and the 171 rooms and suites look out over the city, with Yoyogi Park below and, on clear days, Mount Fuji in the distance. The hotel became famous worldwide through Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, and the New York Bar on the 52nd floor, with live jazz every night, is still its best-known room. After a renovation of 19 months, it reopened in December 2025, keeping the spirit of its original design. Days can end with a swim in the glass-roofed pool high above Shinjuku, a treatment at the spa or dinner at the New York Grill or Kozue, its Japanese restaurant.
The Shinmonzen
HotelAsia, Japan
From $890
The Shinmonzen is a nine-suite boutique hotel on one of Gion’s most beautiful preserved streets. Conceived over more than a decade with Tadao Ando and a circle of artists and craftspeople, it borrows the intimacy and ritual of a traditional ryokan without recreating one literally. Contemporary art, Japanese craftsmanship and architecture are given equal importance, making the property as much a cultural project as a hotel.
The Ritz-Carlton Nikko
HotelAsia, Japan
From $760
The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko places Japanese design and ritual within one of the country’s most beautiful natural settings, overlooking Lake Chuzenji and Mount Nantai inside Nikko National Park. Rooms reference traditional Japanese craft and architecture, while the hotel also introduced the first natural hot spring experience within the Ritz-Carlton brand. The combination of lake, mountains, onsen and nearby UNESCO-listed temples gives the property far more character than a conventional luxury resort.
Shiguchi
VillaAsia, Japan
From $1,367
Shiguchi transforms century-old Japanese farmhouses in Hokkaido into highly personal gallery stays. Each villa combines historic timber architecture with art, antiques and contemporary craft, turning accommodation into an encounter with Japanese material culture. The surrounding landscape adds another dimension, but it is the dialogue between old buildings, art and craftsmanship that makes the property especially distinctive.
Bettei Otozure
HotelAsia, Japan
From $600
Bettei Otozure is an intimate contemporary ryokan in Nagato, surrounded by the mountains and river landscapes of Yamaguchi. Only 18 rooms keep the scale private, while onsen bathing and pared-back Japanese architecture create an atmosphere centred on quietness and privacy. The property has also been recognised by the Michelin Guide, reinforcing its position among Japan’s more discreet luxury ryokans.
Benesse House
HotelAsia, Japan
From $220
Benesse House is both a museum and a hotel, and that distinction is what made it so influential. Opened on Naoshima in 1992 and designed by Tadao Ando, the property allows guests to sleep among contemporary art in architecture conceived specifically around the island, the Seto Inland Sea and the collection itself. It helped establish Naoshima as one of the world’s most important art destinations and remains one of the clearest examples of a hotel becoming part of a wider cultural project.
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto
HotelAsia, Japan
From $550
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto brings contemporary luxury into one of Kyoto’s most historic districts, with architecture by Kengo Kuma conceived around the surrounding forest and hillside. Its most distinctive feature is a dedicated Noh stage designed by Kuma, the only authentic stage of its kind within a Kyoto hotel, alongside natural hot springs and 52 rooms with contemporary Japanese interiors. Craftsmanship, onsen bathing and cultural programming give the property a strong identity beyond that of a conventional international hotel.
