all day and crave our spacious and
exceedingly comfortable room at
the Claska by mid-afternoon, we are
never very far from home and spend
big chunks of time luxuriating over
breakfast, absorbing the local art and
contemporary design at galleries and
studios, leisurely devouring manga
comics at the second-hand bookstore
and slurping our way through steaming
bowls of noodles. Our pace is slow
and satisfying.
of the day, coming home to the Claska
feels like slipping on your favourite
bathrobe and slippers it's relaxed,
comfortable and familiar.
and expansive rail system I have
experienced, and when we say goodbye
to our friends at the Claska and
Meguro, it's hello to the Bullet Train
(the Shinkansen) and the impressive
320km/hour journey to Kyoto.
This is where you come for temples and
shrines in pristine forests, real geisha
and tea ceremonies, kaiseki (highly
refined Japanese degustation) cuisine,
modernist architecture (which provided
obvious inspiration to Frank Lloyd
Wright and his contemporaries), as well
as Kimono seamstresses and samurai
movie studios. Strangely, none of these
iconic expressions of Japan seem kitsch
or remotely touristy.
capitals of the world (home to
Nintendo and Mario) and is on
the cutting edge of global culinary
creativity and innovative interior and
industrial design. This is where you can
see some of the world's most futuristic
constructions, such as the soaring
seven-story steel and glass Japan Rail
Kyoto Station, and the lighthouse-like
Kyoto Tower.
we chose to stay at the Kyoto Hyatt
Regency, which, according to travel
writer Gary A. Warner of The Orange
County Register, "fuses Japanese and
Scandinavian influences of wood and
soft lighting into a hotel that is
modern but not out of place in the
old quarters."
Once again, our overwhelming first
impression is of effortless hospitality
the staff do not expect or accept tips
as their service is not motivated by
personal profit but seemingly stems
from a deep sense of integrity, respect
and pride in their jobs.
customer service. There's a genuine
warmth to every interaction, and a
deep-seated desire to please. And, as
experienced at every turn during our
stay at the Hyatt, a supremely high
level of professionalism to rival the
planet's most superior hotels... All this
while retaining Japanese quirkiness,
honouring tradition and pushing the
boundaries of the modern aesthetic.
you might expect from a member
of a global chain. The design team,
created the mood of a modern
Japanese art gallery and installation
space. They retained the unmistakable
ambience of a Japanese guesthouse
yet didn't lose sight of the need
to satisfy international-traveller
demands for creature comforts and
world-class facilities.
fabric headboards and luxuriously deep
bathtubs crafted from white oak.
fare is simply a watered-down version
of real local cuisine it's a good sign
that most of the diners are Japanese.
As well as Japanese dishes, there are
French and classic Italian offerings
almost competing with each other in a
real-life version of Iron Chef!
striking distance of Kyoto Station,
Gion, Shijo-dori and other attractions.
The Hyatt Regency Kyoto is easily one
of the most sophisticated hotels I have
ever stayed in.
temples framed in cherry blossoms
and reflected on glass-like lakes, you
are probably bringing to mind one of
the iconic Buddhist temples or Shinto
shrines of Kyoto they are simply
magnificent.
facades, which encapsulate interiors
characterised by the simplification of
form and an absence of decoration
modes of design we typically refer to
as `open plan' and `minimalism'. The
Japanese understood hundreds of years
before the rest of the world that great