The Okura

Tokyo is full of posh hotels. Tall buildings with large lobbies and impressive-yet-identical kaiseki restaurants. They’re all perfectly fine, but squint and it’s hard to tell them apart. Nobody is going to mix The Okura up with any of those. 

The Okura, a five-star hotel in Asakasa (and now part of the Leading Hotels of the World brand), is its own thing. Its vibe is contemporary but also an unapologetic, whole-hearted throwback to Japan’s pre-recession boom identity. The days of Sony Walkmans, smoking in business class, the ascension of Nintendo, Issey Miyake and the globe-straddling launch of the all-powerful Asahi Super Dry lager. The Okura somehow channels all of this into every square inch of its smooth, creamy tan interior. At this hotel, nihon truly still is ichiban.

Why stay at The Okura?

If ever a hotel was ‘Made in Japan’, it’s this one. 

The Okura opened its doors in 1962 and instantly became one of the country’s most prestigious hotels. Anyone who was anyone, from superstar poets to presidents, stayed there if they found themselves in the capital. Formidable literary genius Yukio Mishima used it for meetings. John Lennon stayed when visiting Tokyo. Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren were fans. The old-world glamour is palpable.

Which is weird, considering the hotel (as it exists today) is a completely different building. That’s right: Father Time comes for us all, even beloved 1960s modernist hotels. Its owners - presumably aware that the smell of 50 years-worth of cigarette smoke was never going to truly shift - saw fit to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it (using more earthquake-proof materials) in 2019. However, that’s not the whole story. The architect, Yoshio Taniguchi, was none other than the son of the hotel’s original superstar designer - a move that ensured that despite the double skyscrapers’ gleamingly modern exteriors, there are spiritual and physical throughlines connecting the Okura of 2026 to its Shōwa-era predecessor. Recurring motifs, patterns, geometric lanterns, lacquer tables and warm stone surfaces all reference (casually) the hotel’s fascinating past.

And did we mention the lobby? To be honest, calling it a ‘lobby’ is like calling Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a ‘pop album’. Rebuilt from the original in painstaking detail, Okura’s lobby is its heart, its lantern-lit sanctuary, a psychogeographic space that somehow represents not only the visionary talent of its architect, but also the post-war aspirations of the Japanese people. If you think that sounds overblown, then by all means pay the Okura a visit and sit for a moment in one of its petal-shaped chairs. Time will stand still. Arguably a spell in that broad and serene lobby is as culturally instructive as a visit to almost any art gallery or museum.

What are the rooms like at the Okura?

The Okura Tokyo has 508 rooms in total, divided between 140 rooms in the Heritage Wing and 368 rooms in the Prestige Tower. Across the two buildings there are 23 suites: seven located in the Heritage Wing and 16 in the Prestige Tower.

The Heritage Wing is the more serene of the two buildings. Interiors reference traditional Japanese architectural themes, with muted timber panelling, restrained colour palettes and spatial layouts. By contrast, the taller Prestige Tower (where we stayed) is a bigger, slightly more international-feeling structure. Standard Prestige rooms use mattresses produced by Japanese manufacturers Nippon Bed and France Bed, while the tower’s top suites are equipped with Magniflex mattresses. Both options are great and dressed with 400 thread-count linen. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of Tokyo Tower and the surrounding Minato district skyline (or, if you’re lucky, straight down into the American ambassador’s palatial residence).

Our bathroom featured heavy marble tops, massive mirrors and gratifyingly posh-smelling Bamford toiletries. Best of all the bathtub, large by Japanese standards, sits at the base of a floor-to-ceiling window, letting you soak in the tub while lording it over the rat race scurrying around below. As you’d expect, power points were well positioned and easily accessible throughout the room.

What’s there to eat and drink at the Okura?

Lots and lots. There are seven owned-and-operated restaurants and bars on the premises, including the flagship Yamazato (traditional dining with a kaiseki menu), Sazanka (a teppanyaki joint sizzling away at the top of the Prestige Tower) and Novelle Epoque (French fine dining with a slightly more informal vibe.) 

Need more? Fine! You’ve also got Orchid, which is the all-day option that also doubles as the breakfast room, and a fine-dining Cantonese option in Toh-Ka-Lin. Anyone looking for a sophisticated nightcap should certainly swing by the Orchid Bar, a remarkable time capsule that’s been a part of the Okura experience for as long as the hotel’s existed. Anyone who’s been to Tokyo will know the Japanese do not mess about when it comes to stiff drinks. The mental image you have of ‘a cool bar’ is one that was mercilessly refined by Japan. This ideal is in full effect at the Orchid Bar, a cocktail of low lighting, tinkling piano, dark wood, uplit bottles behind the counter and stoic, bow-tied bartenders calmly crushing ice but secretly dying to make you something spontaneous or dig out a rare whiskey from the vault. 

Particularly charming are the glass lockers where regular customers can keep their own beloved personal bottles, some of which have been kept in their families for generations.

Why you should book a stay at the Okura

In Japan fads, fashion and gimmicks come and go with stomach-churning speed. But the Okura is (hopefully) forever. Both a tribute to Tokyo’s past and also a lesson in soulful consistency for other businesses, this is somewhere unafraid to forego trends in its pursuit of something calmer and more enduring. 

Service at the Okura is predictably non-intrusive and benevolently pre-emptive. Housekeeping is meticulous and rooms are maintained to a high standard. Linen is refreshed frequently and personal items carefully arranged rather than moved. Deliveries are handled through discrete service cabinets so that staff can replenish bits and bobs without disturbing guests. Our check in was smooth as silk, and in those instances where I was dealing with staff who didn’t know I was there to review, I found them to be patient, polite and helpful. The only exception was at breakfast, where the number of guests seemed to slightly overwhelm the team, which created a slight but tangible air of panic. 

The area itself - Toranomon Hills, isn’t going to appear on many sightseeing itineraries. But it doesn’t need to. This vertiginous, shiny business district is centrally located and only a short ride by public transport or taxi from all the usual fun spots. If you do want to stay in the vicinity then you’re not too far from cutting-edge (and awkwardly named) exhibition space 21_21 Design Sight and also the wonderful NHK Museum of Broadcasting. 

If you’ve got the cash to splash on a luxury experience, then the Okura is an easy recommendation (particularly its Heritage Wing). This a hotel that provides a taste of what took Japan to the top 50 odd years ago, and what continues to make the nation such an idiosyncratic, beautiful place. You can find hotels with more mod cons, more social media pizazz and more avant-garde architecture. But it’s hard to think of somewhere that has more of Tokyo’s soul floating through its rooms and elegant hallways.