Tokyo: Yama-no-Ue (Hilltop) Hotel (Hotel)

0.3 business

Address: 1-1 surugadai, Chiyoda-ku , Tokyo 101-0062, North-east asia
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Lonely Planet Review

Just behind presitigious Meiji University, the charming Yama-no-Ue is perched on a hill in Kanda that gives good views unobscured by towering high-rises. Distinctive in many ways, it's the only hotel in Tokyo that circulates negative ions and fresh oxygen into all of its guest rooms.

For literary prestige, the Yama-no-Ue Hotel is indeed at the top of the hill. One of Japan's most esteemed authors, Yukio Mishima, wrote his last few novels here before committing ritual suicide at age 45. The hotel itself retains a similar mystique about it, a place rife with real character. Unpretentious, old-fashioned style differentiates it from newer, glammy top-end places; the older rooms come complete with expansive writing desks and wood trim. Kept up with new carpeting and upholstery, the ageing rooms feel comfortably lived-in. More modern rooms in the hotel's annex are nice enough, but lack the charm and dignity of the older ones. The neighbourhood is laid back, with bits of green space visible from the rooms, and though prices reflect the hotel's reputation and level of service rather than particular luxuries, those negative ions might really be worth the expenditure.