Park Hyatt Tokyo Take 2

Park Hyatt is the Hyatt brand’s most luxurious line of hotels. There are Park Hyatt hotels all over the world but one of the finest and surely the most famous – thanks to Sofia Coppola’s feature film Lost In Translation – is the Park Hyatt Tokyo. The Park Hyatt Tokyo occupies the top fourteen floors of one of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, Shinjuku Park Tower in Shinjuku, Tokyo. This hotel features a spa and enclosed rooftop pool, three world famous restaurants, two bars, and the best bird’s eye views of the city that one could hope for.


The Park Hyatt Tokyo’s website describes Girandole, one of the hotel’s three restaurants, as “simple, delicious fare that is satisfyingly authentic.” Girandole is the classic French brasserie on the forty-first floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo. The description of the food is very true but the wonderful thing about this hotel is that those words could be used to describe any number of amenities at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.


The word “simple” could easily describe the modern design of the rooms and corridors of the hotel. In fact, the interior design of the Park Hyatt Tokyo seems to highlight and celebrate simple shapes. Upon stepping out of the quiet – and fast – elevators one finds him or herself on the forty-first floor and in the first of three enormous, cloud piercing, glass pyramids. Walking towards the reception area one passes through a wide hallway and by a circular stairwell so grand and deep that it gives the effect of looking down the center of a giant outstretched slinky; the light gradating in and out at each level. After reception there is the library and another geometric engagement. The rows and rows of yellow lit, long and tall rectangular shelves have a romance about them that seems so human despite the perfect symmetry of straight lines and right angles. After the triangles, spirals, and perfect squares there’s another set of elevators that are just as quiet and as fast.


But even more than simple and refined, the pull of this hotel is that it is “satisfyingly authentic.” Upon pulling into the hotel’s grand driveway and again at reception, guests are greeted by proper name and in the language of their origin – a custom that is common among elite hotels. But at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, they take this experience of being personally welcomed a step further and will be sure to know if there are any holidays of importance coming up for their guests. For example, if a guest is celebrating a birthday or anniversary he or she will be greeted with a traditional Japanese bow and a fragrant bouquet delivered by an impeccably dressed geisha upon arrival. And after a few days at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, one realizes that to stay at this hotel is to stay at a place that is truly “simple” while also “delicious” and yet “satisfyingly authentic.”

Lanvin / Acne Denim / Lost In Translation Collaboration

During my senior year in college I had one of those old boxy televisions thats depth is greater then its width. It didn’t really work except to play DVDs and at that time I only had one DVD. It was Lost In Translation and I had no qualms about watching it over and over again. As a result I think I’ve seen the movie enough times to repeat the entire script backwards. And, well, the movie and its characters are on my mind a lot.

So when I saw the new Lanvin / Acne Denim collaboration I immediately though of Charlotte in Lost In Translation. Maybe I sensed the origin of the denim - Japan - in the way it held up against the knobby model bodies. Maybe that kind of structured ruffle just lends itself easily to a misplaced beautiful blonde woman. On second thought, what doesn’t lend itself easily to Scarlett Johansson?

But the more I thought about Lanvin, the more I thought about Charlotte wandering the crowded streets of Tokyo.

The picture on the bottom is of the inside cover of my 2009 planner. Yes, it is the archaic paper kind with a new page for every week of the year, how wasteful! How un-green of me! I also have a planner in my iPhone but I feel more secure with both electronic and physical copies of my simple daily happenings. Anyway, pasted to the inside cover is a picture of a Lanvin clutch that I cut out of a magazine. It is leopard printed in light blue with a black grosgrain ribbon bow, has the chrome and enamel lock, and the signature Lanvin charm.



To me this clutch is Paris at midnight, Little J on the Upper East Side, what I thought of my own black eye-linered adolescence, and most of all, Tokyo. Tokyo on a sunny day by the Bridge, Tokyo in a Maid Cafe, Tokyo in Lost In Translation. What does this clutch say to you?