All roads lead to shizuoka
In Oyama, Shizuoka, 80 minutes by car from Tokyo, the new Fuji Speedway Hotel is leaving the competition in its rear- view mirror with warm hospitality and an enviable location overlooking Japan’s most iconic racetrack and tallest peak.
THERE ARE TWO schools of thought when it comes to choosing a hotel for vacation. The first is that “I won’t be spending much time there anyways” so any bolthole you can lay your head down in is sufficient. The second, and my preferred approach, is that hotels should never be an afterthought. Just as you plan your outfits, restaurants and activities, your accommodation should play an integral part in your vacation narrative as each day will start and finish between its four walls. It’s a way to experience the city – or rather, it is the experience, because some hotels are woven into the fabric of a city and have stories to tell, whether that be down to their location, architecture or history.
This is certainly true of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, a family of stays ranging from historic urban gems and contemporary trendsetters to boutique properties and tropical resorts, bound by their unique spirit and knack for connecting people and places: hidden deep in the Shuiguan Mountains, Commune by the Great Wall stands as an architectural wonder entrenched in the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Situated alongside the ruins of a 300-year- old church in the vibrant cultural district of Casco Antiguo, Hotel La Compañia is a living museum offering a glimpse into its storied past through three eras of design, architecture and art. La Zambra in the hills of Southern Spain takes cues from its rhythmic flamenco origins, punctuated by striking architecture. Designed to captivate travellers, these are spellbinding stays that you’ll want to talk about.
It doesn’t get more memorable, however, than the
Fuji Speedway Hotel, Hyatt’s first Japanese property to fall into the Unbound Collection. Sitting on the grounds of the Fuji Speedway race circuit in the foothills of Mount Fuji, the hotel makes up part of the Fuji Motorsports Forest – a burgeoning facility developed by the Toyota Group “where a love for cars gathers and grows” – together with the Fuji Motorsports Museum that occupies its ground and second floor, documenting more than a century’s worth of racing heritage with 40 of the world’s most famous (and rarest) racing vehicles on display. That includes the long-treasured participating cars from the 1922 Strasbourg Grand Prix and the Toyota 7, the winning vehicle in the 1969 Japan CAN-AM.
The car references are persistent, but subtle, throughout the property. Gracing the hotel entrance, “MONOLITHIC” is a monochromatic marvel that fuses the jargon inherent to the realm of motorsports with the intricate anatomy of racing vehicles. Stretching across the atrium above hangs an expansive installation. At a certain angle, it resembles the Speedway in shape, while the length of each aluminium rod that makes it up corresponds to the lateral G-force racers are subject to when zooming around the track’s corners. In the lobby on the third floor, “The Globe” stacks together hundreds of miniature racetracks from around the world to recreate the Earth’s surface. Beside it, the arch of the reception desk mirrors that of a race car.