Seeing Tokyo from the sky at Bellustar

IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU don’t want to have in Tokyo, it’s enochlophobia. Defined as a fear of crowds, its symptoms include trying not to cry while being crushed on the Marunouchi line at rush hour; willing Hachiko to spirit you across the Shibuya scramble crossing (if you can even get to him); or being ambushed by drunk salarymen in Kabukicho’s Golden Gai insisting you take their order for whisky highballs.

Okay, the last one actually reflects a secret fear of being mistaken for serving staff, but we don’t know the name for that.

But we do know how to cure your aversion to human proximity if you find yourself in the middle of Shinjuku and particularly Kabukicho – a neon-lit wonderland of food, drink, games and debauchery.

It’s your cue to step into the realm of luxurious nothingness at the one-year-old Bellustar Tokyo, A Pan Pacific Hotel which sits high up in Shinjuku’s latest shiny playground – Kabukicho Tower. It’s as if someone raised their hands and cried: “Take me away from all this”, and the kind folks at Tokyu Corporation replied: “You got it”.

Kabukicho Tower sits 48 floors above the frenetic, messy, discombobulating district of Shinjuku, where just getting out of the station to the street level requires nerves of steel and navigational abilities of a guide dog with built-in GPS. 

It was designed as part of a plan to make people stop associating Kabukicho with girly bars, sleaze and low-brow entertainment, and bring in a more gentrified crowd. The stunning reflective facade of this skyscraper stands out for its brilliantly lit newness, its design inspired by a water fountain and interpreted by architect Yuko Nagayama.

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Quiet luxury

Stepping into Bellustar Tokyo is like flicking a switch and turning off the cacophony of the streets outside. You enter noiselessly through a discreet entrance and sail up to the 39th to 47th floors where its 97 rooms show you what it’s like to experience Tokyo from the sky.

Even the regular rooms – and by that we mean a sprawling room with an open concept, all-glass bathroom, a cosy sitting area and demarcated bedroom – make you feel like you’re staying in a penthouse. From every full-length window you look out to a view of the city skyline as far as the eye can see. Depending on where your room is located, you might even get a glimpse of Mt Fuji or the head of Godzilla, a nearby tourist attraction.

If you already feel the luxury seeping through your veins, it doesn’t prepare you for what awaits in the penthouses, all five of them designed by Tokyo architect Keiji Ashizawa and Copenhagen’s Norm Architects.

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The duplexes are jaw-dropping not for their opulence but lack of it, with an abundance of discreet furniture and clean, open spaces. We wonder what it would be like to stay in the Tori penthouse with a long staircase reaching up to its loft bedroom. We don’t want to think about the potential knee damage from all that climbing until we realise the bedroom has its own entrance on the upper floor.

If walking around the hotel makes you feel like you’re in an art gallery, you’re right. The hotel is flush with works by Japanese artists, the most jaw-dropping being the giant orb-like sphere suspended from the ceiling of Bar Bellustar. Like the other artworks, this piece by Shinji Ohmaki is inspired by the sights and history of Shinjuku. In this case, it’s a stunning interpretation of the waterscapes that once extended across the district.

But if that doesn’t float your boat, a delicious Irish coffee cocktail by the bar’s resident mixologist might.

Bellustar Tokyo’s signature peace and quiet extends even to its dining space, including the hushed Restaurant Bellustar, a spacious, light-filled dining room with the same stunning views. The modern French menus are inspired by the different prefectures of Japan, and change with the season. The cooking is subtle, leaning on French flavours but pared back with a Japanese aesthetic. 

If you’re not one to seek out massages in Japan, Spa Sunya may change your mind as the demure (read no-strength) looking therapist surprises you with fingers of adjustable steel that can straighten out your knotted muscles with as little or as much pressure as you can handle. 

Grooving in Shinjuku

You may not want to leave this cocoon of noise-cancelling bliss, but just in case the urge (and maybe your pocketbook) strikes for something with a little more buzz, you can move downstairs to Hotel Groove Shinjuku, a Parkroyal hotel that comes under the same Pan Pacific Hotels Group as Bellustar Tokyo.

The beauty of being in Kabukicho Tower is that you get two bites of the cherry – the uber-luxury Bellustar or the more wallet-friendly Groove which has a younger, scrappier vibe built around Shinjuku’s music culture.

The retro vibe extends to walls plastered with album covers and vinyl-shaped “Do not disturb” signs in the rooms. The art element is just as strong here, although with a more bohemian slant. One standout artwork hangs outside its buzzy JAM17 restaurant, which captures the essence of Shinjuku’s past. Assembled from an assortment of actual items scavenged from the area including steel shelving, a table from a Kinokuniya bookstore, and even a cash register, this “junkyard” installation is both ruggedly beautiful and thought-provoking.

The rooms, which stretch upwards from the 18th floor to the 35th, include three that have been designed in collaboration with Japanese artists Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, Takuro Tamayama, and Tomoyuki Washio. 

Relive your cassette-playing days in the room done by Kaihatsu that effectively captures Hotel Groove’s design DNA. An entire wall is covered with tapes from every music era and they’re not just decorative. You can pick anyone you want and literally listen to your past.

Washio, on the other hand, goes full-on artist in his art studio-inspired room with splashes of colour and vivid mural-like paintings and mosaic tiles depicting Japanese cartoon characters.

But if your tastes lean towards practicality, splurge on the serviced apartment-like junior suite which comes with its own washing machine and microwave. Or you could do your laundry in the bright and colourful coin-operated laundry room that’s styled like a bowling alley, complete with vending machines for snacks.

There are also outdoor garden terraces for fresh air and a view, and there’s access to the rest of Kabukicho Tower via long escalators. In fact, for a quick tour of what this sprawling complex has to offer, just ride the escalator through each floor. Peek at the entertainment arcades, live theatre, cinemas, restaurants and every kind of attraction you can think of, packed into one tall amusement park.

Eventually, you will have to venture out into the real world outside, but it’s nice to know that where there is chaos, there’s also a world of calm you can escape to.

The writer was a guest of Bellustar Tokyo and Hotel Groove Shinjuku