Shinjuku
The big hotels and office buildings that give way to museums and tiny little streets crammed with bars, restaurants,
clubs and shops, just north of Harajuku and its Sunday shenanigans, make Shinjuku a great place to be based. The slot
machines, packed in the evenings, and discount stores share space with some great restaurants and bars, a Sunday flea
market, the odd sex emporium and Shinjuku Ni-chome, Tokyo's gay district.
PARK HYATT TOKYO
Yes, you've got to start with the deep carpeted interiors of the main character in Lost in Translation. The
Park Hyatt Tokyo has reached icon status, so come for a drink at the New York Bar or a bite at Kozue the Japanese restaurant
to see what all the luxury is about. The rooms are just as sleek and the views as stupendous as in the film. Get up early
to swim in the lap pool or work out overlooking it, bathed in the ambient light of the hotel's skylight roof.
Make sure you check out the Club on the Park Spa. The hot onsen pool's jets create a whirlpool, fun to drift
with and to swim against. Alternate with the cool pool and feel your blood turn to sherbet back in the heat. The spa's
treatments are sublime, but for something exclusively Park Hyatt, try one of the Aesop facials. On the menu they're for
men, but the intensely natural products in the professional hands of their eloquent therapists are infinitely soothing
for either sex, leaving you no choice but to snooze gently under the fluffy white duvet.
Park Room Y68,200 (US$630); fitness is free of charge; spa use Y4,200 (US$39); Club on the Park Massage, 90 minutes
Y25,000 (US$230)
