"Before opening in 2016 in the lesser-known business district of Otemachi, this homegrown hotel chain drilled a kilometer and a half under Tokyo’s concrete to tap into a hot spring and draw its mineral-rich water. The 17-story tower has 84 rooms and feels more like a dozen ryokans than it does one hotel. Each floor, accessible only to guests staying on that floor, has its own central lounge—or ochanoma —for quiet relaxing with a pot of genmaicha. Every guest room is spacious with glass-walls, sliding latticed washi screens, bamboo closets, fragrant tatami mats, and supremely fluffy futons. It’s worth having dinner at the hotel’s guest-only restaurant which serves colorfully presented Nippon cuisine. Regardless of dinner location, every night should end at the open-air rooftop onsen—the reason behind the heroic drilling—for soaking while stargazing in the middle of the city." - Brandon Presser
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