Aman Tokyo

I've reviewed hotels in 40 countries and Aman Tokyo remains the most quietly extraordinary building I've ever slept in. It occupies six floors of the Otemachi Tower — floors 33 through 38 — and when you step out of the elevator, the city is already far below you and everything is washi paper and stone and silence. My room was 85 square metres, which is unheard of in Tokyo, and the floor-to-ceiling windows faced northeast toward Shinjuku. On clear mornings I could see Mount Fuji from the bed. The lobby ceiling is a 30-metre washi paper lantern that changes colour through the day. I ate breakfast there three mornings in a row just to watch it. The Aman Spa onsen ritual — alternating thermal pools, stone bath, traditional scrub — is two and a half hours and costs about ¥35,000. I have no regrets. The location in Otemachi puts you a five-minute walk from the Imperial Palace East Gardens, which I walked every evening at sunset.