The highest five-star room category in central Tokyo — 245 rooms across the top nine floors of Tokyo Midtown, the 53rd-floor Club Lounge with one of the city's two best skyline views, and west-facing rooms looking past Tokyo Tower to Mount Fuji on clear afternoons.
"Tokyo's most consistently exceeded-expectations five-star — the rooms run larger than the city's vertical-tower norm, the 53rd-floor Club Lounge runs five food-and-beverage presentations a day at a level that would embarrass most hotel restaurants, and the Mount Fuji view from a west-facing Club King in February is one of the closing arguments for travel."
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo opened in March 2007 occupying the top nine floors (45–53) of the 53-storey Tokyo Midtown tower, the SOM-designed mixed-use development on the Akasaka side of Roppongi that replaced the former Defense Agency headquarters. The Tokyo Midtown complex is a Mitsui Fudosan project completed in 2007 with offices, the Mandarin Oriental's nearest comparable rival in Marunouchi, the Suntory Museum of Art, and a 26-storey residential block. The Ritz-Carlton's lobby is on the 45th floor — the lift bank from the ground-floor Tokyo Midtown atrium runs as a destination experience in its own right — and the rooms occupy the floors above, with the Club Lounge on the 53rd and the executive office level immediately below.
The 245 rooms (including 33 suites) start at 52 square metres for a Deluxe King — substantially larger than the central Tokyo five-star norm of 35–42 square metres — and run up through Carlton Suite (95 square metres) and Tokyo Suite (170 square metres) to the Ritz-Carlton Suite (300 square metres) and the Modern Japanese Suite (a duplex with private spa). Every room has soaking tub and separate rainfall shower, in-room espresso machine, and the floor-to-ceiling windows that the position justifies. West-facing rooms look across central Tokyo to Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace, and on clear winter afternoons to the silhouette of Mount Fuji on the horizon — the single most-photographed Tokyo hotel-room view.
Dining is the property's secondary proposition. Hinokizaka (Japanese, four service counters: kaiseki, tempura, teppanyaki, sushi) is the headline restaurant; Azure 45 (modern French) holds one Michelin star; Towers (all-day continental) runs the breakfast service; the Lobby Lounge handles afternoon tea with a Mount Fuji backdrop on clear days; and The Bar & Lounge on the 45th floor is the after-dinner room. The 53rd-floor Club Lounge — accessible to Club-floor guests and suite bookings — runs five separate food-and-beverage presentations daily and is the strongest hotel-club-lounge programme in Japan. The fitness centre and the 20-metre indoor pool occupy the 46th floor; The Ritz-Carlton Spa, with eight treatment rooms, is on the 45th.
The position competes with — rather than overlaps — central Tokyo's other top-end five-stars. The Mandarin Oriental at Nihonbashi is ten minutes east; the Aman at the Otemachi Tower is fifteen minutes northeast; the Peninsula at Marunouchi is twenty minutes east. The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo's brief is the Tokyo Midtown / Roppongi axis: walking distance to the Mori Art Museum, Roppongi Hills, the Suntory Museum, and the National Art Center. Roppongi metro is two minutes underground via Tokyo Midtown's basement; Haneda Airport is 25 minutes by car. For first-time and returning Tokyo travellers who want the largest rooms and the strongest view at the top end of the market, the Ritz-Carlton is reliably the right answer.
For a Tokyo anniversary the Ritz-Carlton is the textbook five-star answer — Club-level Tokyo Suite with a Mount Fuji-facing window, dinner at Hinokizaka or Azure 45, and the Club Lounge handling afternoon tea and evening cordials between. ¥250,000–400,000/night for a Tokyo Suite during the May–June and November anniversary peaks.
For Tokyo business stays at the level where the Tokyo Midtown corporate tenants are the brief, the Ritz-Carlton is the address of first resort. Club Floor accommodations include workspace, fast Wi-Fi, breakfast and afternoon presentations in the 53rd-floor lounge, and the 45th-floor Bar & Lounge as a discreet alternative meeting room. Room sizes generous enough for an in-room working day.
For a Tokyo honeymoon the Ritz-Carlton is the largest-rooms answer in central Tokyo at the top end of the market. The Modern Japanese Suite — duplex with private spa — is the once-in-a-lifetime category. Pair with three or four nights in Kyoto for a complete Japanese honeymoon arrangement.
Tokyo Midtown, 9-7-1 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6245
Japan
Roppongi metro 2 minutes (via Midtown basement); Tokyo Tower 10 minutes by car; Haneda Airport 25 minutes; Narita 75–90 minutes
245 rooms (incl. 33 suites)
Deluxe King from ¥120,000/night
Club rooms from ¥180,000/night
Carlton Suite from ¥350,000/night
Tokyo Suite from ¥600,000/night
Ritz-Carlton Suite from ¥3,500,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Opened March 2007; Tokyo Midtown SOM-designed; floors 45–53
Hinokizaka (Japanese, 4 counters)
Azure 45 (modern French, 1 Michelin star)
Towers · The Lobby Lounge · The Bar & Lounge
53rd-floor Club Lounge
The Ritz-Carlton Spa & 20-metre indoor pool
Mount Fuji views from west-facing rooms (clear winter days)
From ¥120,000/night. Club-level rooms and the Tokyo Suite book three to four months ahead for late March to early April (cherry-blossom peak) and November (autumn maples); standard rooms generally available within four weeks.
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