The Otemachi Forest is certainly an unexpected find, as you turn a corner in Tokyo’s busy financial district. The air is cooler in the shade of Japanese evergreens, maples and oaks, and the view is prettier with rhododendrons and dogtooth violets. Nearly 800 trees and 56,000 plants are thriving here, accompanied by birds, insect life and grateful office workers. This forest was no accident – it gives ground-floor presence to Aman Tokyo, the first urban hotel from Amanresorts which occupies the top six floors of the recently built Otemachi Tower. “First urban hotel,” confirms general manager Jeffrey F. Seward, “and our first elevator.”
From Turks & Caicos to Venice, Morocco to Bhutan, Amanresorts specialises in small, special, hidden places. Here, it is the closing of elevator doors that separates me…
