Mandarin Oriental Tokyo｜Like Edo on a rainy night, unforgettable yet tinged with disappointment

Hoping the brilliance of this folding fan will not be left behind by time
🏨Hotel: Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
🏡Room type: Deluxe Corner Room

At that time, Tokyo had just entered the new century, with international luxury brands competing to settle in. Mandarin Oriental, as the new generation of the "Big Three," returned to Tokyo’s origin 🗾—the "zero kilometer" landmark and the starting point of Edo Tokyo’s transformation.

📍 Location
The hotel backs onto the major landowner Mitsui and connects to the nearly century-old Mitsui Main Building🏢. As one of the core projects in the first phase of Nihonbashi’s redevelopment plan, it once carried the city’s vision of "reviving the old city center." Unlike the port area crowded with new elites, the Skytree clearly doesn’t attract the same flow as Tokyo Tower📸, but under this Edo legacy sky, gazing at this superstructure calmly witnesses the transition between old and new, much like how old money scrutinizes the new era.

📍 Public Areas
The drop-off area is simple and restrained, not deliberately pursuing luxury. Entering the lobby, a giant fan-shaped installation intertwined with cherry blossom imagery forms the visual focus🌸. The space is laid out symmetrically along a central axis, with a high ceiling design creating a sense of order. The lobby doesn’t show off but settles emotions under the theme of "wood as the source of water."

📍 Guest Rooms
The room design no longer feels fresh by today’s standards; wooden elements build the spatial framework, friendly yet distant. The biggest highlight is the dual-aspect windows, overlooking the Ueno district and offering a distant view of the Skytree, capturing the texture of Tokyo’s cityscape🏙️ (P3), like unfolding an old Edo map, vast and graceful.

📍 Service
What truly makes guests return is only the service. During my stay, the professionalism of the three Japanese front desk staff was questionable🙃. Immersed in Nihonbashi for a long time, they seemed to have absorbed the arrogance and aloofness of old money. Ironically, foreign staff were more enthusiastic and attentive; the template apology letter was received but felt cheap. Even more puzzling was that the Chinese staff communicated in English emails🤷🏻.

📍 Nihonbashi is being reshaped, but what about you?
The hotel is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary🎐. As a witness to Nihonbashi’s revival, it may also become synonymous with "stagnation." Nihonbashi’s redevelopment is entering a new phase, and a new wave of hotels in Tokyo has begun, with the Waldorf Astoria nearby gearing up. Height, age, design—WA is competing on a higher level. At least this time, Mandarin Oriental gave me no reason to return.

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