1 Hotel Tokyo Just Opened in Akasaka, and It Is Not Like Other Tokyo Luxury Hotels

1 Hotel Tokyo opened this past March, and it is the first Japan property for a brand that built its name on the idea that a luxury hotel does not have to look like a marble box. It sits on floors 38 through 43 of the Akasaka Trust Tower, part of the new Tokyo World Gate Akasaka development, with 211 rooms including 20 suites and three penthouse suites at the top.

What makes it different from the Park Hyatts and Aman Tokyos of the city is the design language. Moss walls instead of marble. Hand raked plaster finishes. A spa with five treatment rooms and an indoor pool. Rooms looking out at Tokyo Tower on one side and the Imperial Palace gardens on the other. It earned Japan’s highest environmental rating, CASBEE S, through things like energy efficient systems and zero waste kitchens, which matters to a specific kind of traveler and will mean nothing to another kind, so know which one you are before it factors into a decision.

Akasaka itself is worth knowing before you book based on the hotel alone. It sits between the Imperial Palace area and Roppongi, a business and government district with real restaurants tucked into it rather than a tourist strip. You are a short taxi or train ride from Shibuya, Ginza and the palace grounds, but you are not stepping directly out into the crowds the way you would near Shinjuku Station. For a family, that quieter footing right outside the door can matter more than the room itself.

I would not pick this for a family trying to stretch a budget across two weeks, and I would not pick it for three kids and a stroller either, based on the room counts and the suite mix. I would pick it for a couple doing Tokyo before or after a family leg of a trip, or for parents who want one or two nights of quiet before the kids arrive or after they head home.

New hotels are worth watching in the first year because pricing and packages tend to move around while a property finds its footing, sometimes in your favor if you book an opening rate, sometimes not once the reviews come in and demand catches up. I would not book blind off a press release. I would want current rates and a read on how it is actually running a few months in.

If Tokyo is one stop on a bigger Japan trip, or the whole trip on its own, that is what my Tokyo city guide walks through, neighborhood by neighborhood.