Janu Tokyo lodge assessment – The Factors Man

Getting there

Janu Tokyo is found in Azabudai Hills, a new area featuring a series of buildings, including the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower, Tokyo’s tallest building. For folks familiar with Tokyo, Azabudai Hills is located near Roppongi and its nightlife, as well as Toranomon Hills, where you’ll find popular points hotels like The Tokyo Toranomon Edition and the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills.

From Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND), the hotel is easily reachable by car in less than 30 minutes, depending on traffic, for about $60 to $90. Public transportation is also a viable option thanks to the Keikyu Airport Line and a quick transfer to the Hibiya Line, which will get you to Janu Tokyo in about 40 minutes for less than $5.

Booking details

Standout features

• Janu Tokyo is set back enough from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo’s energetic streets but near enough to all the action.
• Picture-perfect views of the Tokyo Tower await around every corner.
• The restaurant Sumi’s omakase experience is a meal you’ll never forget.
• The wellness facilities (which include an indoor pool, a spa, saunas, baths and a gym) are some of the best I’ve experienced.

Drawbacks

• The higher-than-average cost is prohibitive to many, and the hotel is not available to book with points.
• Janu Tokyo is part of a larger complex of buildings and can be a little difficult to navigate at times.
• Like many luxury hotels, the price of everything, from a cocktail to on-site restaurant meals, is also very expensive.

The vibe

Stepping out of the elevators into Janu Tokyo’s sky lobby, guests are greeted with wow-worthy views of the bright red Tokyo Tower, an icon of the city dating back to the 1950s. That tower’s red color is juxtaposed with the hotel’s overarching muted palette that relies heavily on earthy tones, textured woods, pops of gold and white and natural elements that seem expensive yet approachable.

Attached to the main lobby, the Janu Lounge & Garden Terrace served as a microcosm of the hotel itself; fashionable women dressed in head-to-toe designer posed with pretty cocktails looking out at the Tower, couples in minimalistic sportswear sipped tea and even well-to-do toddlers padded in and out of the space.

All in all, the design-forward hotel and its crowd felt subtle in a way that was luxurious without being ostentatious. And while many Amans (like the one in New York) require a larger-than-life membership fee to even have a cocktail at the bar, Janu Tokyo felt welcoming to everyone, even if it was just to stop in for a casual drink before a night out.

The room

Since I was traveling with my mom for this trip, we were placed in a premier room measuring about 700 square feet with two twin beds, a living area, a huge bathroom and a balcony. Even at luxury hotels, it’s common in Japan for rooms with separate beds to be smaller twins compared to many U.S. hotels that might have double queens or even double king beds.

Despite the small size, I slept incredibly well in the comfortable bed and appreciated having automatic light switches, do-not-disturb buttons, universal outlets and in-headboard chargers at the nightstands.

Opposite the beds was the living area with a small couch, a little table and two low-to-the-ground armchairs. Flanking one side of the couch was the in-room bar, while the opposite side had a small desk with standard hotel writing equipment and a handy iPad that could control all the functions of the room and provided details about everything else happening at the hotel.

The minibar area had a Nespresso machine, an impressive assortment of Japanese teas, sodas, juice and water, all of which were included in the nightly rate, plus local beers, wines and sakes for an additional fee.

In the middle of the room, a large TV was hidden in a lift cabinet so as to preserve the beautiful floor-to-ceiling city view looking out onto the balcony.

Though my balcony didn’t have a direct view of the Tokyo Tower, you could see it ever so slightly. Either way, having an outdoor space in a big city hotel is a treat, even if the August weather made it nearly unbearable to be outside.

Back by the beds, a large bathroom could be opened up to the room or closed off with sliding shoji screen panels. While the large soaking tub, open to the room, could be a romantic display for a couple, my mom and I quickly closed that bathroom up for privacy. A very fancy Toto automated toilet was housed in one glassed-off room next to a rainfall shower in the neighboring one.

The double vanity sinks made it easy to get ready together in the morning, and we both enjoyed all of the Aman-branded amenities like soaps and lotions scattered throughout the bathroom.

Lastly, the room featured plenty of closet space right off the entryway, allowing us to hang the clothes we needed for our two-night stay.

Food and drink

Across Janu Tokyo, there are eight restaurants and bars ranging from two different omakase-style restaurants to eateries specializing in Italian and Chinese fare to a meat and seafood grill and even a delectable-looking patisserie. While I didn’t have the chance to enjoy them all during my two-night stay, I did have two incredible dinners, a couple of great cocktails and breakfast each morning, all highlighted below.

Sumi

My first meal at Janu, and our first meal in Japan, was one of the most memorable and unique of our entire eight-night trip. Sumi is a 13-seat sumibiyaki restaurant, meaning it specializes in charcoal-grilled foods, offering a 10-course omakase (chef’s choice) experience. There, everything is prepared fresh in front of you, from the tiniest chopped greens to meats cooked right on the open flames.

The omakase experience changes seasonally but always features items like a soup, sashimi, grilled skewers, soba and rice. Our menu included tuna sashimi seared on raw straw, grilled corn rice, mouthwatering grilled spiny lobster and little grilled ayu sweetfish. The meal, which starts at 29,000 yen ($203) per person without a sake pairing, was a true feast of the senses, from watching the chefs cook to the smells of the various methods used to cook (like the straw) to the taste and textures of each dish.

And while some of the dishes were rather adventurous for our Western palates, every dish was unique and wonderful to try.

To wrap up the meal, I found it exceptionally lovely that the more-than-kind servers brought out trays of teacups for each guest to choose from for the tea service.

Janu Mercato

Located on the ground level of the hotel, Janu Mercato is an Italian restaurant with regular seating facing the Tokyo Tower, plus unique bar seating in front of glass cases full of fresh seafood and the like.

For this meal, we enjoyed a fresh romaine salad with green beans and anchovy dressing for 2,100 yen ($14.50); one of my favorite foods, a scallop carpaccio, that hit all the right notes for 3,300 yen ($23); and a rich and creamy cannelloni pasta for 2,900 yen ($20). Though I wasn’t expecting to have Italian food on my second night in Japan, after a long day of sightseeing in the heat, the convenience of the restaurant, along with the beautiful view and delicious food, all hit the spot.

Janu Bar

At Janu Bar, cocktails of all shapes and sizes that are curated by Japanese master mixologist Shuzo Nagumo are on the menu. Janu’s signature cocktails are each designed to represent one of Tokyo’s various districts through distinct spirits and flavors, while a modern classic cocktail menu offers more traditional options.

We enjoyed a sampling of cocktails, including a slightly fruity take on an espresso martini for 3,200 yen ($22), a salsa margarita cocktail that was rich and sweet for 3,200 yen ($22) and the Mediterranean Collins, a refreshingly bitter drink for 3,200 yen ($22).

Breakfast at Janu Grill

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day — and the included breakfast at Janu, served in Janu Grill, was truly outstanding. The menu featured either set meals or a la carte items, like the sweet and slightly bitter matcha pancake shown above.

My favorite breakfast was the Janu Breakfast set that included yogurt and fruit, a bowl of bright steamed vegetables in tahini, grilled beef shabu-shabu (basically a very thin slice of beef) and egg dinacharya (or a sort of eggs Benedict with a piece of brioche topped with poached eggs and grilled bacon on a bed of greens and olives).

And because Japan is big on coffee, you can order a real iced coffee to go along with your breakfast.

Overall, all the food I had at Janu Tokyo was impressive, and I know my mom and I will be talking about our sumibiyaki experience at Sumi for years.

Amenities and service

With a strong focus on wellness in all its various forms, Janu Tokyo offers many amenities for guests to take advantage of across its 43,000-square-foot wellness center.

For me, the main attraction was the beautiful 82-foot swimming pool surrounded by lounge chairs and large windows. During various visits to the pool, I noticed people reading and relaxing in the chairs and others swimming laps.

At the gym, working out felt easy with floor-to-ceiling windows offering city views from Technogym equipment. In the center of the gym is one of the most advanced pieces of gym equipment I have ever seen, though I’d be lying if I told you what the massive structure was actually used for. Perhaps I should’ve asked one of the personal trainers I saw guiding a guest through a private workout.

As part of Janu’s commitment to wellness and cultivating community, the hotel offers a number of complimentary group classes like spin (in a dedicated spin studio) and other workout classes in one of the many fitness rooms located throughout the center.

In fact, there were even a golf simulator and a boxing ring, taking fitness (and fun!) to a whole new level when it comes to hotel amenities.

And while I sadly didn’t have time to get a treatment at the spa, those who do can choose from an expansive menu of treatments and even book one of two signature spa houses that can accommodate four guests for treatments. Each includes a living area, a cold plunge, a hot bath, an outdoor terrace and either a wood sauna or a hammam-style steam room.

I did, however, very much take advantage of the Japanese-style baths in the men’s area of the wellness center, as well as the steam room and the cold plunge.

As for the general service at the world’s first Janu, I found the staff beyond friendly and ready to help in any way possible. From helping me order taxis to kindly rescuing me from myself after getting lost in the larger-than-life wellness center, the team was always eager to assist.

Out and about

While there are endless things to do in Tokyo, you don’t have to go far from Janu Tokyo to experience a lot of it.

Accessibility

For guests with accessibility needs, a number of premier rooms are available with accessible features including grab bars. I also noticed great accessible features throughout the hotel, including urinals in the men’s room with grab bars, which I have never seen before.

That said, the Janu website is totally void of accessibility information, a true disservice to guests with different needs. As always, TPG recommends calling the hotel before booking to confirm that the property can accommodate specific needs.

Checking out

Aman and Janu get a little lost trying too hard to define themselves in words, in my humble opinion, but the lived experience between the two made sense in real life: If Aman is a moodily lit, luxurious retreat to connect with yourself, Janu is a social experiment in luxury and wellness where the goal is to connect with others — or, at least, to celebrate the fact you’re in a place surrounded by people who are there in the light.

And, if Janu Tokyo is to set the standard for the other nine properties in the works, stretching from Dubai to Montenegro, then the bar is set pretty high. From a memorable meal that offered more than just the taste of delicious food to picture-perfect views of an iconic city skyline, Janu Tokyo checked all the right boxes for me.

Now, one can only hope that the property joins some of the programs offering elitelike perks to help offset the cost — then it might be perfect.

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