New Hotels in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka

Suddenly, everything is boutique

Sowaka Kyoto

I’ve just produced three new pages for my websites focusing on the best new hotels in Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka.

Best New Hotels in Kyoto January 2023

Best New Hotels in Tokyo January 2023

Best New Hotels in Osaka January 2023

If you’re coming to Japan this spring, you’ll be spoiled for choice. You can forget the cookie-cutter business hotels of the past. Now, everything seems to be boutique, even the capsule hotels are boutique. I mean, check out Hotel Cargo Shinsaibashi (below) - this is the first time I’ve ever used the term “boutique capsule.”

Hotel Cargo Shinsaibashi

Family-friendly hotels are also booming. The excellent Mimaru chain actually specializes in family hotels. Check out the following two pic of the Mimaru Kyoto Nishinotoin Takatsuji, which is just a short walk from the downtown core. The living room and bunk beds are perfect for traveling families. Best of all, Mimaru has multiple branches in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, among other cities.

Mimaru Kyoto Nishinotoin Takatsuji

Here’s another shot of the same hotel. If your kids are into Pokemon, they’ll love this room:

Mimaru Kyoto Nishinotoin Takatsuji

Another welcome trend is the boom in apartment-style hotels that are perfect for business travelers on longer stays. The Ascott Marunouchi Tokyo is a great example. With an excellent location near the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station, a proper gym and pool, and en suite kitchens and laundry facilities, this place is really tough to beat for business travelers or anyone who just wants to “live” in Tokyo for a while.

Ascott Tokyo Marunouchi

Ascott Tokyo Marunouchi

Finally, environmentally-friendly “green” hotels are starting to pop up. A great example is the Good Nature Hotel in Kyoto, which has an atrium lined with greenery, which you can enjoy from your private veranda:

Good Nature Hotel Kyoto

Now, in what may become a semi-regular feature of the newsletter, I’d like to introduce one of my favorite onsen in Japan. This one is way out there on the island of Io-jima in Kagoshima-ken, south of Kyushu. It’s pretty close to Yakushima. It’s called Higashi Onsen and it’s a stunner: three outdoor pools in the rocks overlooking the Pacific. You can soak in the pools and admire the Easter Island-style rock feature a short distance away. It’s free, rarely visited and awesome. It barely exists online but I found this excellent video produced by a Japanese family: Higashi Onsen

Finally, for those of you lucky enough to be heading to Kyoto this spring, here’s a video to get you psyched. It’s from Genki Sudo’s incredible World Order group. It’s all shot in Kyoto. Check out the beautiful evening shots of Gion Shimbashi.