The Peninsula, Tokyo, Japan – Hotel Review
The Marunouchi district of Tokyo was for many years a faceless, colorless business district, 
devoid of any interesting shops or architecture, especially when contrasted with the super trendy Ginza district nearby. Over the past decade, its image has changed dramatically with the opening of fashionable international and Japanese shops and restaurants, a convention center (the Tokyo International Forum), and the lantern-shaped Peninsula Hotel at the southern tip.
The Peninsula Tokyo, opposite the Imperial Palace and Hibiya Park, is part of the Peninsula Group of hotels, a small luxury chain whose flagship property in Hong Kong opened in 1928 and is known for its large fleet of green Rolls-Royces and superb service among other things.
As my taxi pulled up to the main entrance, a Peninsula page boy and doorman greeted me and provided escort to the front desk. Check-in formalities took seconds and moments later I was in my room.
THE ROOM
The rooms at the Peninsula are all about the view overlooking the Imperial Palace Gardens, Hibiya Park, and the Marunouchi and Ginza districts, something designer Yukio Hashimoto capitalized on in every way possible. This became immediately apparent to me when I entered my Deluxe Park View Room.
My Deluxe Park Room was, at 579 square feet (54 square meters), exceptionally spacious. The thought given to the design of the room, both in terms of details and user friendliness, was extraordinary. Beyond the view, one of the first things I noticed were all the buttons, and that raised concerns with me at first. I’ve been in hotels before that installed complex systems for controlling lights and curtains and automated wake-up calls where it was almost impossible to adjust anything. I needn’t have fretted. Just as in a fine German automobile, all of the buttons and switches made perfect sense.
The small café-style table next to the window provided a ringside view to the Imperial Palace Gardens and the city, allowing me to sit and enjoy breakfast or a drink while enjoying the vistas at the same time.
But I’m barely scratching the surface here.
Click here to continue to Page 2 – Dining, Road Warrior Support, and Room Controls
