Fuminari Yoshitsugu
In Japan, domestic tourism is booming and long-slated projects are opening. In the luxury sector, brands such as Park Hyatt, Aman and Four Seasons have put home-grown options in the shade. That was until November 2020 when Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto opened its grand Kajiimiya Gate, dating from 1703. The 161-room hotel with a hot spring was a fresh and unmistakably Japanese launch.
Underground corridor
Sun-lit lobby lounge
The site, which is opposite Kyoto’s Nijo Castle, had belonged to the Mitsui family since 1691. The family lost the plot of land after the Second World War, before the Kyoto International Hotel opened here in 1961. When the Japanese institution closed in 2014, Mitsui Fudosan, the property wing of the vast Mitsui Group, saw an opportunity. “Mitsui has been in the luxury hotel business in Japan by bringing in foreign names, such as Mandarin and Ritz,” says general manager Manabu Kusui. “From here we wanted to build a Japanese luxury hotel fr
Southeast Asia’s first One&Only property occupies a prime beachfront location at Desaru Coast, a recently revived holiday enclave on the southeast shores of the Malay Peninsula. With a clean-lined tropical aesthetic that draws on Malaysia’s kampong (village) vernacular, it’s a dazzling achievement by Singapore-based Kerry Hill Architects, which continues its late founder’s celebrated brand of sitesensitive modernism. The resort debuted in September as the most exclusive address on the coast, with just 44 suites and a four-bedroom villa. Surrounded by 51 hectares of wild tropical flora, dining options range from contemporary Japanese to Mediterranean and Malaysian, while the spa, by Swiss-based wellness firm Chenot, blends scientific diagnostics with traditional Chinese and alternative medicines. Another draw? A one-anda-half-kilometer stretch of pristine beach overlooking the South China Sea.