Tokyo Calling

Get to know the arrivals defining the hotel boom in Japan, starting with a boutique property right at the heart of the city’s newest hot spot

The Olympics may be postponed until 2021 but that’s no reason to pass up a trip to Japan. Consider it research for next year’s big event or a treat after months of being cooped up indoors. With that in mind, why not begin by exploring Tokyo’s less trodden districts? Close to the elegant, cobblestone streets of Marunouchi is Kabuto-cho in Nihonbashi, a financial area that is home to the Tokyo Stock Exchange and a neighbourhood currently experiencing a creative renaissance.

At the centre of its transformation is K5, a new boutique hotel housed in a 1920s former bank building revitalised by Swedish design firm Claesson Koivisto Rune. The practice not only designed the Scandi-japanese minimalist interiors but also dozens of bespoke pieces, from the hotel’s seating down to its pencils. K5’s converted spaces feature an explosion of on-trend greenery and house a micro-complex of restaurants and bars, including a wine bar set in a library, a Brooklyn Brewery-driven beer hall, a Chinese medicine-meets-mixology concept that produces natural cocktails, and Caveman, the second restaurant by acclaimed Japanese chef Atsuki Kuroda of Kabi. k5-tokyo.com