Location and relationships are everything for Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, which brings its properties to life with the same exquisite craftsmanship and artistic detail as the Rome-based jewellery maker does its watches and gems. In the newly opened Bulgari Hotel Tokyo, this design ethos merges with the pride and passion of Japanese carpenters, stone masons, and textile artisans, achieving a perfection of execution that’s studded with grace notes of Italian spontaneity.
Bulgari Hotel Tokyo: step inside
Crowning the top six floors of Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, a 45-storey tower and glittering retail complex situated directly in front of the bullet-train serviced Tokyo Station, the 98-room hotel is as intimate as it is magnificent. Whispers of the Mediterranean are found in the warm palette of tangerine and saffron lightened by sugary browns and whites, while multiple terraces bring the Roman love of outdoor dining and relaxation to a city sorely in need of such spaces.
Terraces are found in the restaurant, lounge, gym, spa, and function rooms, and dramatically flank the rooftop Bulgari Bar, where landscape designer Enzo Enea has planted Japanese yuzu trees on the east side and Italian lemons on the west, along with a profusion of fragrant jasmine. The views are extraordinary.
La dolce vita is the pervading spirit here, and this Italian perspective on the art of living is just what the creators of Bulgari Hotel Tokyo want guests to enjoy. Star chef Niko Romito’s contemporary Italian cuisine teases out the lightest purities of essence found in regional home cooking and celebratory feasts, rendering them in bright simple dishes that make the body’s cells sing.
At the sushi bar Hōseki, a first for Bulgari, you can sip sakes and rare whiskies with an omakase menu curated by the triple-starred Kenji Gyoten of Fukuoka. Dalliances of Italian and Japanese flavours are found in the hotel’s signature cocktails – Marsala semisecco meets awamori; coffee infuses sake; a Bolognese brandy trysts with barley shochu.
Glamorous? Absolutely. Ostentatious? Not a whit. Strike up conversation with any member of the staff and you’ll experience the ‘pure presence’ that’s central to the brand’s credo.
-
How 2024 brought beauty and fashion closer than ever before2024 was a year when beauty and fashion got closer than ever before, with runway moments, collaborations and key launches setting the scene for 2025 and beyond
-
This listed house in London is transformed through a contemporary celebration of the archSegmental House, a listed house transformation by Dominic McKenzie Architects, taps into the playful powers of the contemporary arch
-
The Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II glides into the DMs of the world’s 1 per centThe Series II version of the ‘Baby Rolls’ has slight but sophisticated revisions to keep this hefty saloon in the targets of an increasingly idiosyncratic and individualist buyer
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Yoruya, a Japanese inn where less is always moreYoruya, which transforms a 110-year-old former kimono merchant shopfront and residence in Kurashiki, is an exercise in graceful restraint and craft
-
First look: Noma Kyoto returns and aims to ‘double-wow’ dinersNoma Kyoto opens on 8 October for a ten-week pop-up inside Ace Kyoto. Thomas Lykke, co-founder of OEO Studio, tells us of the interiors’ autumn-forest inspiration
-
Kengo Kuma’s new Kyoto hotel is ‘a sanctuary of ethereal beauty’A former ryokan inn, Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto offers onsen rooms equipped with natural hot spring water, and a contemporary take on a Noh theatre
-
A minimalist teahouse makes a serene addition to a Tadao Ando-designed Kyoto hotelOgata at The Shinmonzen is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Japanese teahouse that sells traditional blends, confectionery, crafts and fragrances
-
Tour the new Four Seasons Osaka, where time stands stillSet within a 49-storey tower, Four Seasons Osaka takes the traditional ryokan experience to new heights
-
Aman Residences Tokyo float high above the Japanese capitalAman Residences Tokyo, Aman Group’s first standalone branded residences, feature dramatic yet serene interiors by Yabu Pushelberg
-
Step inside this rare Shiro Kuramata-designed cocktail bar in JapanShiro Kuramata designed hundreds of bars in his lifetime, but few remain intact. Now fans are making a pilgrimage to Comblé Bar in Shizuoka
-
Take off with Wallpaper* June 2024: The Travel IssueThe Wallpaper* June 2024 Travel Issue is on sale now, ready to whisk you to the best of Ho Chi Minh City, Caracas’ modernist marvels, classy Canadian cabins, a Swiss sleep retreat, and more
