The Tokyo Station Hotel

Opened in 1915, just after the train station that it was part of, The Tokyo Station Hotel's tumultuous 100-year history has made it one of the city's officially designated Important Culture Properties. After a massive earthquake in 1923, followed by the devastation the city suffered in World War II, the station had to be partially rebuilt in the late 1940s. A long renovation was again completed in 2012, and the hotel's combination of 4.5-pearl amenities with historic flair has earned it a place as one of the city's most renowned luxury properties. The hotel has its own direct entrance, and the lobby is housed under one of the building's grand iconic domes. 

The hotel is located within the historic Tokyo Station in Marunouchi, a small commercial district tucked between Tokyo Station and the sprawling Imperial Palace. Guests can walk from the hotel directly into the station to catch public transportation for easy access to other parts of the city, as well as express trains that get to Narita Airport in an hour and 16 minutes. Haneda Airport is about 20 minutes away by car or 40 minutes by public transportation. Both the historic Tokyo Imperial Palace and Imperial Palace Garden are within walking distance of the popular Ginza shopping district to the south. 

Each of hotel's 150 rooms and suites inside the historic Tokyo Station building are decorated in a classic European style, with high molded ceilings hung with elegant chandeliers. Plush patterned carpets add light blue or burgundy hues to the neutral palettes, which are echoed in duvets, throw pillows, and high-backed sitting chairs. Other furniture is mostly dark wood, including coffee tables, work desks, and nightstands that hide laptop safes in bottom drawers. Simmons beds have tiny articulated reading lights that protrude inoffensively from either side, with other lighting housed in brass or silver fixtures, depending on the room's color scheme. Standard amenities include JBL iPod docks, mini-fridges, minibars stocked with stemware, and electric tea kettles (Suites add Keurig machines too). Though some rooms are on the small side, the bathrooms are not. Each has a large vanity with a separate toilet area and a traditionally styled Japanese bath that combines an open walk-in shower beside a deep soaking tub. 

The Atrium lounge serves a mixed Japanese and Western breakfast spread under a massive vaulted skylight set in the room's 30-foot high ceiling. The lounge and its breakfast is reserved only for hotel guests, though breakfast is not included in the room rate. Blanc Rouge, the main fine-dining restaurant (serving lunch and dinner) has several private dining rooms and a modern French menu complemented by a wine cellar that houses 1,000 bottles of international wine. There's also an Italian restaurant and bar, a modern Cantonese restaurant, and three Japanese restaurants that focus on different aspects of traditional cuisine (sushi, yakitori, and kaiseki and teppanyaki). A casual bar and cafe, Camellia, serves light meals, sweets, and drinks throughout the day, while the atmospheric wood and leather-clad Bar Oak serves cocktails named after the historic station at night. 

A well-equipped business center has multiple workstations and printers. There are also three banquet halls whose stately interiors and crystal chandeliers do justice to the historic pedigree of the building. Each can be flexibly arranged to accommodate different events (for up to 180 people in the largest), with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment. For relaxing away from the hive of public transportation, Spa Tokione has full-service treatment rooms along with a sauna, steam room, and several hydrotherapy pools, including a carbonated hot spring pool, and a cold bath. The attached fitness center has the full range of cardio and strength training machines, but costs an extra fee to use.