Shibuya Stream Hotel

In the popular imagination Tokyo is home to an endless flowering of creativity, and the popular imagination isn’t entirely wrong — but you have to know where to look. For Japan is also, in many ways, one of the world’s most traditional, conservative countries. All of which is to explain why, with a few exceptions, Tokyo’s hotels have been slow to embrace contemporary architecture and design. A hotel like the Shibuya Stream Hotel is a step in the right direction: occupying a distinctive modern building near Shibuya Station, it’s a hotel that’s aimed at creative professionals, and boasts the aesthetics to match.

This means contemporary colors, patterned textiles and upholstery, clean modernist lines, functional desks and lounge space, and wardrobes that can handle a fashionista’s costume changes. It also means a lobby lounge that’s a warm and inviting place to pass time, with a variety of spaces for multiple uses. And finally it means Torrent, the restaurant and bar just off the lobby lounge, where chef Nobuto Nagatsuma serves modern Japanese cuisine with a French fine-dining influence. All of this just yards from Shibuya Crossing, the world’s busiest intersection, surrounded by all manner of world-class shopping, dining, and entertainment.