Japan

Japan’s hotel geography divides less by region than by tradition: the ryokan, a centuries-old form built around tatami rooms, communal or private onsen bathing, and multi-course kaiseki dinners served in-room, sits alongside a newer wave of international and independent hotels that have absorbed the same principles of restraint and craft without adopting the ryokan format itself.

The regions, briefly

Tokyo carries the country’s highest concentration of design-forward hotel openings, from towers with sweeping city views to intimate, art-filled properties tucked into older neighbourhoods. The city rewards staying in more than one district across a longer trip, since each ward, Otemachi’s financial-district polish, the quieter lanes around Toranomon, keeps a genuinely different character.

Hakone, roughly ninety minutes from Tokyo by train, is where the ryokan tradition is often first experienced by visitors: a hot-spring town in the mountains, with views toward Mount Fuji on clear days and a concentration of both historic and design-led onsen properties.

Naoshima and the Seto Inland Sea islands run on an entirely different logic, an art-and-architecture pilgrimage built around Tadao Ando’s museum and hotel buildings and a wider network of installations across several small islands, reached by ferry from Okayama or Takamatsu.

Kyoto, Japan’s former imperial capital, and the Kansai region’s temple towns extend the country’s traditional hospitality further inland, though the destination guide here focuses on the properties and regions covered so far; further additions will follow as research continues.