Janu, Tokyo

In short…  A welcome newcomer in town that manages to be five-star, cozy, chic and family friendly all at once, while also encompassing seven restaurants

The surroundings… Located in the Azabudai Hills district, a new 20 acre development in central Tokyo that was 30 years in the making, it opened in 2023. To get to the hotel, you drive through a shopping area that has high-end brands like Bulgari and Hermes—but once you’re inside Janu, it doesn’t feel like you’re in a mall at all. You’re also a 10-minute drive from Ginza and the train station. 

The vibe… There’s something so charming about this property—from the checking in process to the departure. While a part of this is definitely cultural, here it felt a part of the hotel’s DNA. Every time I’d ask for directions, whoever I asked would bring me to the elevator and push the floor button for me. At the front desk when we were checking out, there was a basket of little navy envelopes and the woman at the desk asked us to choose one of them, which were good luck charms. 

The rooms… The rooms were so cozy and homey. Perhaps it was the backlit soju screens in the bedroom that created the effect. Or the chic linen in-room pajamas. Ninety percent of the rooms have balconies with chairs and tables so you can enjoy the outside, and our room, no. 1304, looked out over a beautiful garden and school. They have excellent amenities—Mt. Fuji water (not Fuji water!), their own brand of sake and teas and real terry robes (please, hotels—stop with the chenille, which is not a good trend!). The bathroom seemed to not have a tub, just a shower, but when you open the door, there’s the tub literally next to the shower—it’s treated more like a wet room, which was a genius use of space (something we’d copy if we do another house project at some point!) 

The wellness… The 4,000 square meter Wellness Centre is so impressive. Not only does it have one of the city’s largest gyms (340 sqm), but apart from all the Technogym, Outrace, and SkillX equipment that are new and very impressive, there are five private movement studios where you can golf, a boxing ring, private workouts, yoga, pilates, and a spinning studio. The spa area has separate sauna/soaking/cold plunge/steam/bucket showers for men and women—textile free—and you can book a treatment and a private bathhouse as well. We had 90-minute Janu massages and they were excellent. I particularly liked the head-combing part, where they comb the scalp quite intensely.

The food & drink… We were only there for one meal, and we ate at Sumi, their omakase restaurant that serves food predominantly cooked over charcoal. It was incredible. Whereas omakase or tasting menus normally strike fear that I’ll be overstuffed midway, the courses were small enough that by the end we were perfectly full. We went for the sake pairing because we know we’ll never get to have these kinds of sakes back home. Everything was to die for, and we even threw them a gluten-free curve ball at the last minute—we loved the wagyu and vegetables grilled with a magnolia leaf (a very traditional Hida region preparation), and the Shinogi dish, which was tiger pufferfish rice with chrysanthemum and yuzu. Afterwards, we had some rare Japanese whisky at the bar. On my tour I saw their Italian restaurant Mercato, which looked delicious—even if I’m personally not going to eat Italian in Japan, if I was here with kids, I’d surely try it. The fish display was particularly impressive. There’s a sushi restaurant called Iigura with the most beautiful long hinoki bar. Janu Grill is a bit more New York, and there’s a Chinese restaurant called Hu Jing that looked delicious—with a lot of vegan options. Janu Patisserie is helmed by a female Japanese pastry chef, who works with unrefined sugars and also has some vegan options. And just off of the lobby, the Janu Lounge was filled with Japanese who love to come for high tea on the weekends. It was interesting to see every restaurant filled with Japanese locals, not the Americans that I see whenever I book an impossible-to-get-into restaurant or bar with just 6-8 seats. 

Is it family-friendly? Very much so! There are a lot of rooms that can be inter-connected, and so many food options internally, so at the end of a long day there isn’t a need to go out. The pool is huge and there’s a very large separate jacuzzi-style pool that I saw kids hanging out in. It’s also in its own shopping area that doesn’t have cars whizzing about, so for little ones it isn’t stressful; and if you have teens, they’ll be very happy being let loose to wander in the adjacent mall. 

Date of stay… March 1, 2026