1 Hotel Tokyo: Ōya Stone, a Zen Garden Ceiling and an Hourglass in the Shower
Ōya-ishi means stone from the great valley: 大谷石, three characters that describe a landscape. The stone has been quarried in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, since the fourteenth century. When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, he chose it because its porosity absorbs seismic force where a denser stone would fracture. The Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 left the city in ruins. The Imperial Hotel held.
Today the same stone receives the guests of 1 Hotel Tokyo. The monumental Ōya wall in the lobby on the 38th floor of the Akasaka Trust Tower is modelled on the masonry surrounding the Imperial Palace moat, which stands in immediate proximity. This is how the hotel speaks to Tokyo: through material, through reference, through the weight of a stone that carries the city’s history.
1 Hotel Tokyo opened in March 2026 on floors 38 to 43 of the Akasaka Trust Tower, the brand’s first property in Japan, with 211 rooms, 24 suites and three penthouses, anchored within the Tokyo World Gate Akasaka development in the Akasaka district.
From Street to Canopy: The Arrival Sequence at 1 Hotel Tokyo
The Brooklyn design studio CRÈME conceived the arrival as a movement it describes internally as “from street to canopy”: from the urban energy of Akasaka upward into a different quality of space. On the ground floor, the transition begins with a planted entrance façade. The lift rises to a narrow, dark anteroom directly before the 38th-floor lobby, lined with Ōya stone and preserved moss, the sound absorbed before the space opens. Slow Hospitality in a metropolis like Tokyo is built through a precise spatial sequence that gradually changes the body’s relationship to density and pace, long before the guest checks in.
On the 38th floor, the lobby opens onto the city skyline. The ceiling beams in reclaimed timber follow the pattern of the karesansui, the Zen garden practice in which monks rake gravel and sand into curved lines each day. CRÈME has translated this practice into the architecture of a room inhabited by people who arrive and move on. A monumental Ōya stone wall, lit to draw out the miso-coloured mineral spots and pores of the material, anchors the space. Living greenery climbs the walls; moss-covered boulders stand in the arrival area. The restaurant NiNi, on the same floor, opens its view onto the Imperial Palace gardens and the Tokyo Tower.
Ōya Stone, Reclaimed Timber and the Materials of 1 Hotel Tokyo
In the rooms, the same language continues, quieter and carried into the details. Sand-textured wallcoverings and hand-raked plaster give every wall surface the trace of the work that made it. The bed headboards are live-edge timber planks, their unworked edges recalling the form of the tree from which the material came. Wall pieces in preserved moss and reclaimed pallet wood make their origins visible; the furnishings are sourced from local producers.
The hotel holds CASBEE Rank S certification, Japan’s highest environmental rating, with rainwater and greywater recycling and a consistent procurement policy across all materials. What this certification means inside the room is readable in the objects a guest encounters: glasses made from recycled wine bottles, a reclaimed chalk board as a notepad, a stone outside the room door engraved with “now” on one side and “not now” on the other, a three-minute hourglass in the shower, a wooden block inscribed “1 Less Thing” inviting guests to leave clothing the hotel passes to local organisations. Bamford toiletries come in aluminium containers. These objects say more precisely what the house means by responsibility than any certification could.
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The main restaurant takes the name NiNi, from the Japanese word for two, and the doubling is programmatic: two coastlines, two kitchens, two cultures in conversation in one room, each with its own integrity. Head Chef Nikko Policarpio has worked in Michelin-recognised restaurants in Tokyo and in David Chang’s Momofuku group in Toronto, where the exchange between East Asian and North American cooking has been happening in real time for years. In NiNi, the Japanese season sets the compass, the lightness of the French Riviera sets the atmospheric tone. Access to the restaurant is via nobedan, locally sourced stepping stones laid in the manner of a Japanese garden path: a deceleration that begins before the first course. The private dining rooms are fitted with washi paper and dried botanical works. The hotel sources its produce directly from NEO-FARMERS!, a collective of young farmers in the Tokyo region committed to regenerative agriculture, and from Tea Grace for premium tea. The Spotted Stone Bar, named for the mottled pattern of the natural stone, holds the largest curated selection of artisanal Japanese gin in the city; its walls are clad in handmade three-dimensional ceramic tiles, its ceiling hung with hand-stitched lanterns. The Neighbors Café focuses on plant-forward dishes and local artisanal drinks.
Bamford, Kyoto and the Body Practices of the Spa
The Bamford Wellness Spa was developed with Carole Bamford, who through her Daylesford Farm in Gloucestershire, her skincare lines and her wellness concepts has spent decades advocating for organic and holistic living in the European luxury space. The house signature treatment, the 1 Hotel Tokyo Experience, combines a foot ritual, a massage and a facial with Bamford Skincare, adapted to the individual guest. The Japanese Bamboo Massage uses bamboo tools from Kyoto with a green tea-infused oil, combined with shiatsu, reflexology and acupressure — practices transmitted in Japan as living body knowledge, and treated as such by the spa. An indoor pool with floor-to-ceiling windows, a lavender rest zone, several hammams and a 24-hour fitness centre with panoramic views complete the offer. A planted outdoor terrace allows the city skyline to be taken in from stillness.
Why Akasaka Matters
Akasaka sits in Tokyo’s Minato district, shaped primarily by office towers and diplomatic institutions, quiet at weekends, with a different intensity to Ginza or Shibuya. The neighbourhood is within walking distance of the Imperial Palace gardens, has a dense layer of small bars and restaurants in its side streets and is connected by a newly laid footpath directly to the Akasaka Hikawa Shrine. Leal described the neighbourhood in an interview: “Akasaka around the hotel is just amazing. I know you look at this place that looks like a concrete jungle, but deep below and in between, it’s just great culturally.” The hotel has chosen a location that keeps the density of the metropolis fully present while providing the conditions in which a different quality of stay becomes possible.
Mori Trust, 1 Hotels and the Development Behind the House
1 Hotels was founded in 2015 by Barry Sternlicht, the American hotelier and investor who built the Starwood Hotels group in the 1990s and sold it to Marriott in 2016. The founding conviction of the brand: those who travel the world should also care for it. The Tokyo project was developed in close partnership with Mori Trust, one of Japan’s leading property developers, under the leadership of CEO Miwako Date, who describes Tokyo World Gate Akasaka as an urban development initiative that brings together business, culture and approximately 5,600 square metres of green space to create a new quality of urban stay, including a footpath connection to the nearby Akasaka Hikawa Shrine.
In the evening, the guest places the stone outside the door. Not now facing up. Tokyo moves on, 38 floors below. The room is still.
What to Know About 1 Hotel Tokyo, Ōya Stone and Akasaka
Hotel Tokyo opened in March 2026 as the first Japanese address of the 1 Hotels brand, set on floors 38 to 43 of the Akasaka Trust Tower in Tokyo’s Akasaka district. Its design brings together Ōya stone from Tochigi, reclaimed timber, planted arrival spaces and body practices associated with Kyoto to explore how a hotel can create stillness inside one of the world’s most accelerated cities. Read the foundational essays of the Slow Hospitality Series on The Silent Luxury.
1 Hotel Tokyo is the first Japanese property of the 1 Hotels brand, a hospitality group founded by Barry Sternlicht in 2015 around the idea that those who travel the world should also care for it. The hotel opened in March 2026 on floors 38 to 43 of the Akasaka Trust Tower in Tokyo’s Akasaka district, with 211 rooms, 24 suites and three penthouses. It is part of the Tokyo World Gate Akasaka development, a mixed-use urban project by Mori Trust that integrates office, culture, retail and approximately 5,600 square metres of green space. The hotel holds CASBEE Rank S certification, Japan’s highest environmental rating.
1 Hotel Tokyo is located in Akasaka, in Tokyo’s Minato district, within the Tokyo World Gate Akasaka development. The neighbourhood is shaped by office towers and diplomatic institutions and sits within walking distance of the Imperial Palace gardens. A newly laid footpath connects the hotel directly to Akasaka Hikawa Shrine. Akasaka’s quieter, layered character — with small restaurants and bars in its side streets — made it the considered choice for a property whose intention is to work with the grain of a city rather than against it.
Ōya stone, or Ōya-ishi (大谷石), is a porous volcanic tuff quarried in the Ōya district of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo. It has been quarried since the fourteenth century and used in Japanese architecture for its lightness, fire resistance and capacity to absorb seismic force — properties that matter in a country where tectonic activity is a constant architectural condition. Frank Lloyd Wright used Ōya stone for the original Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which survived the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 while the surrounding city did not.
At 1 Hotel Tokyo, Ōya stone forms a monumental wall in the lobby on the 38th floor of the Akasaka Trust Tower, lit to draw out the stone’s mineral texture and pores. The wall is modelled on the masonry surrounding the Imperial Palace moat, which stands in immediate proximity to the hotel. The choice of Ōya stone is a direct reference to the geological and architectural history of Tokyo itself, connecting the new property to the city’s long relationship with this specific stone.
1 Hotel Tokyo structures the guest experience through a sequence of material and spatial decisions rather than through programme alone. Ōya stone, reclaimed timber, hand-raked plaster surfaces, planted arrival spaces and small in-room objects — a stone door sign, a three-minute hourglass in the shower, a wooden block for donating clothing — each carry a specific intention. The arrival is designed as a graduated transition from street level to the 38th floor lobby, moving through a narrow, moss-lined anteroom before the space opens onto the city skyline.
The interior language and arrival sequence of 1 Hotel Tokyo were conceived by CRÈME, a Brooklyn-based design studio. CRÈME developed the concept of movement from street to canopy — a graduated transition that begins at ground level with a planted façade and continues through a narrow, Ōya-lined anteroom before the lobby opens on the 38th floor. The reclaimed timber ceiling follows the raked-sand pattern of the karesansui Zen garden practice, translating a daily meditative exercise into built form.
The main restaurant is NiNi, named from the Japanese word for two, a concept by Head Chef Nikko Policarpio that places the lightness of the French Riviera in conversation with the precision of Japanese seasonal cuisine. Policarpio has worked in Michelin-recognised restaurants in Tokyo and in David Chang’s Momofuku group in Toronto. The hotel also operates the Spotted Stone Bar — holding the largest curated selection of artisanal Japanese gin in the city — and the Neighbors Café for plant-forward daily dining, sourcing produce from NEO-FARMERS!, a regenerative farming collective in the Tokyo region.
1 Hotel Tokyo features the Bamford Wellness Spa, developed with Carole Bamford, whose Daylesford Farm in Gloucestershire, skincare lines and wellness concepts have made her a consistent voice for organic and holistic living in European luxury. The house signature treatment combines a foot ritual, massage and facial using Bamford Skincare, calibrated to the individual guest. The Japanese Bamboo Massage uses bamboo tools from Kyoto with a green tea-infused oil, drawing on shiatsu, reflexology and acupressure as living practices. Facilities include an indoor pool, lavender rest zone, hammams and a 24-hour fitness centre.
1 Hotel Tokyo holds CASBEE Rank S certification, Japan’s highest environmental rating, which covers energy efficiency, rainwater and greywater recycling and the responsible sourcing of building materials. The hotel’s approach extends into the guest experience through specific objects: glasses made from recycled wine bottles, a reclaimed chalk board as a notepad, Bamford toiletries in aluminium containers and a three-minute shower hourglass. Produce is sourced directly from NEO-FARMERS!, a regenerative farming collective, and premium tea from Tea Grace.
The Silent Luxury — Slow Hospitality Series
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