Big in Japan

As Tokyo gears up to host the Olympics, Japan’s capital is buzzing with new developments. But, as Angelina VillaClarke, discovers, the city hasn’t forgotten its ancient roots

Peer out the huge windows of Sushi Sora — a compact dining room on the 38th floor of the elegant Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel — and the vast city skyline glows as far as the eye can see. Night-time is surely the most cinematic way to see Tokyo from up high. To the east, the Tokyo Skytree towers above the other skyscrapers and below, there’s the green roof of the Bank of Japan, oddly shaped like a Yen sign (it turns out that its money-shaped architecture is merely a coincidence). Neon signs pulse to an unheard beat.

Inside the restaurant, which seats just eight, it’s dark and moody; a perfect antidote to the flashing lights down at street level. You perch on black leather seats at a counter carved out of aged Japanese cypress, and watch in anticipation as the chefs in front of you give a masterclass on Edomae sushi.

Based around ingredients that reflect the changing seasons, there is a choice of three menus, including a vegetarian option, which varies according to which fish and other produce the chef has purchased each morning. Exquisitely presented (even your napkin is folded intricately in paper, to echo a kimono), the meal is an endless array of delectable mouthfuls all prepared theatrically in front of you. It’s the ultimate urban experience.

Of course, this is what you’d expect from Tokyo — the definitive hypermodern capital city. Preparing to host the Olympics in 2020, it’s already in celebratory mood with some streets lined with Olympic flags (left over after marking 1,000 days before the event’s start) while a huge countdown display is already ticking on the metropolitan government HQ in Shinjuku.