TRUNK HOTEL

From American blue jeans to French pastry to Italian coffee — increasingly, Tokyo is where other countries go to see their local arts and crafts practiced at the highest possible level. The youth-oriented, high-design, hyper-social boutique hotel certainly didn’t originate in Japan, but again, it just might be in Tokyo that it finds its most perfect expression. TRUNK Hotel is the local version of something like the Ace Hotel Shoreditch or the Wythe in Williamsburg, but it’s no mere copy — as is so often the case in Japan, what sets it apart is the sheer quality of its execution, which is in turn the product of a fanatical attention to detail.

In large part this means a fanatical attention to reusing and rehabilitating what might otherwise be discarded. The location is Shibuya, known for its ties to the fashion business; so not only are the TRUNK’s staff impeccably turned out, but their uniforms are recycled from the castoffs of the local industry’s production. Not only are there bikes available for guest use, but they’re salvaged from bikes found abandoned around Tokyo and turned into functional machines by local mechanics. So too are the interiors made of salvaged materials, from the vintage furniture to the rough reclaimed wood.