Hotel New Otani: High class

The scale of Hotel New Otani is dauntingly large, certainly by Tokyo standards.

The hotel contains three wings –- The Main, Garden Tower and Executive House Zen -- surrounded by a 10-acre Japanese garden with a 400-year history. The warren of corridors that connect the various wings with event halls, shops and eateries, is expansive enough to get lost in.

Opened for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Hotel New Otani was then Japan’s tallest building, and its revolving sky-bar was a symbol of modernity.

Although it is now one of Tokyo’s older luxury hotels, a major 2007 refurbishment means the facilities now match the famously high-standards of service that would still satisfy Hachisuka, the lord who owned the estate on which its built.