Inside a handsome former bank building from the 1920s, Hotel K5 is one of Tokyo’s most distinctive boutique hotels. Stockholm-based firm Claesson Koivisto Rune directed the interior design, imbuing the hotel with a dreamy blend of Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics. The four types of rooms – 20 in total – vary from a 21sqm studio to an 80sqm loft, with furnishings like elegant shibori-dyed bed nets, red-lit bathrooms, shelves of art books, a minibar and even a record player and vinyl collection.
The hallways are designed to seem like a continuation of the rooms – walking down them, you feel more like a guest at an impeccably designed mansion than a typical inner city hotel. The accommodation is spread over floors two to four of the building, with the first floor and basement home to a selection of cutting-edge eateries and watering holes. It’s close to the Hibiya, Asakusa, Ginza and Tozai lines, but with so much to do and see inside, you may never want to leave.