“Midnight in Tokyo” is one of the Park Hotel Tokyo’s artist-designed rooms.
Some hotels are full of art, working with artists to showcase their works. At the Park Hotel Tokyo, a boutique lodging within sight of the Tokyo Tower, the rooms themselves are works of art, with unique designs painted by local artists.
Here’s the scoop:
Art at the Park Hotel Tokyo
The Park Hotel Tokyo opened in 2003 in the Shiodome Media Tower near both Shiodome and Shimbashi Stations in central Tokyo. The hotel lobby is located on the building’s 25th floor, with guest rooms on floors 26 through 34.
The hotel is built around an atrium that rises above the lobby, where the hotel restaurants and lounges are located. From one side of the lobby, you have close-up views of the Tokyo Tower, particularly dramatic on a clear night when the tower is illuminated.
The fanciful, vibrantly colored “Mask Room” at the Park Hotel Tokyo
In 2012, the property launched its “Artist in Hotel” program, inviting artists to stay in the hotel while they create original artworks, using the guest rooms as their canvases.
Of the hotel’s 268 guest rooms, 52 of them have so far been transformed into works of art. And each one is different. Some feel calm, others are whimsical, and still others feel like you’ve followed a portal into the artist’s brain.
Guest Rooms and Amenities
The guest rooms vary in size from queen or twin rooms starting at approximately 235 square feet to king units measuring 355 square feet — not large by North American standards, but not tiny when compared to other properties in Tokyo. The furnishings are simple yet functional, with outlets by the beds, reading lamps, and small bedside tables.
The standard rooms, without artwork, are furnished similarly. They’re comfortable, although it’s the Artist Rooms that are really special.
The Park Hotel Tokyo has a sustainability program to replace plastic amenities with those made from bamboo, cotton, or other more eco-friendly materials. Like many Japanese hotels, the Park provides not only shampoo and soap (in large dispensers), but also toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and razors; here, though, these products are made from bamboo instead of plastic.
Sustainable amenities to reduce plastic use
Facilities and Services
ART Colours Dining, on the lobby level, is the hotel’s all-day restaurant. The restaurant can be busy in the mornings, but staff will give you a buzzer in case you have to wait, and you can help yourself to coffee or tea.
At breakfast, the ART Colours menu is a hybrid of international and Japanese dishes. Staff will cook eggs to order, and guests help themselves from the buffet laid out with fruit, yogurt, cheeses, smoked salmon, breads (including a tasty salt bread), pancakes, a hot vegetable dish, and rice, along with juices, coffee, and tea.
Also off the lobby is Hanasanshou, the Park Hotel Tokyo’s more elegant Japanese restaurant. Open for dinner only, Hanasanshou specializes in kaiseki-style multi-course set menus, and you can pair your meal with sake, shochu, or Japanese wine. You can also order sashimi, grilled dishes, and tempura a la carte.
The Park Hotel Tokyo is built around a central atrium.
While the hotel has no gym or fitness facilities, you could get some exercise by following the hotel’s suggested Tokyo Art Walk, a list of galleries and museums to explore. Some (but not all) are within walking distance from the hotel, although all are easily reached by transit or taxi.
You don’t have to leave the hotel to see plenty of art — more than 400 artworks are displayed throughout the property. Several exhibitions each year are held in the lobby, and in the evening, illuminated works are projected onto the lobby wall.
The corridors on each floor of the hotel are set up as art galleries, too. Each floor has a different theme. During my recent stay, the 28th floor highlighted Japanese artisans, and the 29th featured artists with disabilities.
Unlike many “art hotels,” the Park Hotel Tokyo has fully embraced its art theme. I’ll look forward to returning to see what its artists will create next.
The “Treasure Box Room” by artist Misa Ohashi
Rates at the Park Hotel Tokyo
Double room rates at the Park Hotel Tokyo start at roughly US$440 per night.
Check rates for Park Hotel Tokyo online at Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda.com, or Hotels.com.
Hotel feature by Vancouver-based travel, food, and feature writer Carolyn B. Heller. Photos © Carolyn B. Heller. The Park Hotel Tokyo hosted my stay for review purposes while I was traveling in Japan.
