"It’s a bold move to open a design-forward property in a city that has fully tied its identity to the past. Even bolder to build it on the exact site where the long-prominent Mitsui family had a residence from the late 1600s to the 1940s. But once you hear the storybook ending–how in 2015 the Mitsui corporation’s real estate arm bought back this beloved parcel of land–it makes sense. While the sleek André Fu–designed spaces break from Kyoto’s usual decor tropes, the past is everywhere. See, for instance, the 300-year-old wooden gate that once demarcated the original estate. There are subtle signifiers too: a long corridor with blond wood arches that echo the maze of torii gates at Kyoto’s famed Fushimi Inari shrine, a ceiling installation inspired by kimono fabric. But it’s the practical yet cosseting touches—the neatly folded pajama set that appears at turndown, the sprawling underground onsen—that will shape this next chapter of the Mitsui legacy. —Rebecca Misner"
