A Hotel in a Store: Why Didn’t Anyone Think of This Before?
MUJI Tokyo is more than a hotel; it's a shrine to the Japanese retail brand’s values, and a laboratory for its design principles and balance. It’s “JUST RIGHT,” as top Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa puts it, embodying the minimalistic yet sophisticated MUJI aesthetic.
For those who have encountered MUJI's minimalist, high-quality brand in New York, London, Paris, or Berlin and fallen in love, or for those open to a new love, MUJI offers a different kind of hotel experience. The hotel is 4-star level (feels like more) and is located in the best spot, the luxurious Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo’s Chuo ward, within walking distance of everything this bustling district of 14 million residents (38 million in the Tokyo metropolitan area) has to offer.
Strolling in Ginza
There’s no better location. The main attractions and major subway stations, which connect to the city's neighborhoods and serve Tokyo's international airports, Narita and Haneda, are just hundreds of meters away. From the MUJI hotel, you can get around without taxis. Shopping enthusiasts can enter the brand’s store from the lobby during store hours or step out to other high-end brand stores, all within a short walk. This includes two UNIQLO stores, one being the massive 12-floor flagship, and the sister brand GU.
Close to the hotel are the historic, elegant, and famous Mitsukoshi and Matsuya department stores, modern malls like Ginza SIX, and boutiques of well-known and unique brands, all competing for the attention of tourists and locals. It’s worth exploring not only the main streets but also the network of narrow alleys crisscrossing the district. The Japanese even have a term for this activity: "Gin-bura," meaning "strolling in Ginza."
This place blends the old and new schools - from unmarked bars and traditional sushi restaurants to bustling Japanese-style bistros, Daifuku confectioneries, showrooms of Japanese beer producers like Asahi's "Super Dry Experience," and of car and electronics manufacturers like Nissan Crossing and the nearby Sony Park (still undergoing massive upgrades promised to be completed by 2024), small ramen shops, specialty watch stores, and stationery shops (a must-visit is the 12-floor Itoya store), and more. Early risers will find the colorful Tsukiji Fish Market, 1.3 km flat walk from the hotel, already bustling with life at dawn. Numerous organized tour pickups are from the Matsuya store, about 200 meters from the hotel.
Less is More
MUJI, short for "Mujirushi Ryohin," means "quality goods without a brand." The company, which envisions a century of creating a better world and strives to return to simplicity, aims to create a feeling of "this will suffice" rather than "I must have this product." They strive to ensure their simplicity results from optimizing the production process to offer reasonably priced products, not from a random pursuit of design.
Against the modern trend, the brand, which started in 1980 with 40 products and a first store in Tokyo's fashion district Aoyama three years later, today has a turnover of about $3.8 billion, millions of loyal fans, and as of 2023, over 20,000 employees and 1,200 stores in 32 countries worldwide, offering more than 7,000 products under one roof, including furniture, household goods, clothing, stationery, food, cosmetics, and more. The largest of these is the flagship store in Tokyo's luxury district Ginza, in a building entirely dedicated to MUJI. There, in 2019, the company's first and only hotel in Japan was established. For those interested, MUJI also has camping sites and a construction company building houses in the MUJI brand spirit.
In strict adherence to the brand’s philosophy, what’s not in the MUJI hotel is just as significant as what is. There are no excessive colors or sounds, and those missing elevator music are welcome to stay elsewhere. A profound quiet characterizes the long corridors and the lobby on the 6th floor, where most of the time, silence reigns or at most, the quiet music played in the network stores (available on Spotify, search for MUJI Hotel BGM).
Here, less is more. Even in the rooms, there are no pictures, photos, or other decorative elements on the walls. The typical room decor includes a flat-screen on one wall and a shelf of art books on the opposite wall. That’s it. Of course, dozens of products equip each room, all items from the giant store downstairs. For those who want to buy them for home, there’s an inventory list with a tiny photo of each item. Guests are invited to take complimentary items like a bamboo comb, toothpaste and toothbrush, hand lotion, but are asked to leave other items like a folding mirror or pajamas. MUJI's oversized photo design album with minimal text, a kettle (designed by Naoto Fukasawa, who works with MUJI), a coffee maker, cups, etc., are all part of the room's equipment.
The color scheme includes black, white, and light or dark wood. Earth tones pop up here and there. The dining room harmoniously incorporates rusty iron plates. The stones behind the reception desk were taken from the paving of ancient roads that crossed Tokyo a century ago, and recycled materials from shipwrecks were used for the interior design. This is the company's only hotel in Japan and one of three such hotels globally, the other two being in China, in the port city of Shenzhen and Beijing, near Tiananmen Square.
Everything is meticulously clean and organized, calculated and considerate. The only sound penetrating the wood-paneled room walls is the whispering of the powerful air conditioning system, a vital necessity on the island characterized by very hot and humid summers. The fast elevators go up and down with a quiet hum. There’s no pool, no gym. But on the shared lobby floor, where the store below ends and the hotel above begins, there’s a tiny museum with rotating displays, a studio ("atelier") with a "salon" offering lectures, and a café-bar. The hotel occupies floors 6-10 in the upper half of the building, with the flagship store taking up floors 1-5. Guests can enter the hotel through the store or directly via the separate entrance from the typically Japanese back alley, lined with numerous small restaurants (don’t miss the "Mod" bar - a tiny but well-equipped standing bar of about 2.5 square meters, perfect for before or after sushi, and a tiny two-story restaurant with the best Japanese-style spaghetti in the city - a branch of Spajiro for an alternative culinary evening to sushi).
The sun rises very early in the Japanese summer. By 4:00 am, it's already light. The day is hot. Very. Large raindrops fall occasionally, and then everyone, absolutely everyone, pulls out umbrellas from somewhere. The hotel provides guests with umbrellas for borrowing. In the lobby next to the reception desk is a small restaurant ("Wa," the ancient name of Japan, used today to express "harmony"). Between 7:30-10:00, an optional breakfast is served here, in either Japanese or Western style. In the evening, there’s a reception for guests with appetizers and various types of wine, quite good, all complimentary. In the basement of the store below, there's also a MUJI diner for Western-style lunches or dinners (at a very affordable price) for those who start to feel a bit overdosed on Japanese food.
In Japan, Sleep Like a Japanese
MUJI Tokyo hotel has 79 rooms in total, in nine types. Most are small to tiny, in various configurations. The lines are straight. They even managed to square the floor lamp shade. My room on the 10th floor was narrow, long, and with a high ceiling that eased the claustrophobic feeling. But the configuration left few options for a window positioned inconveniently above the bed. Narrow means 2.5 meters or less, the width of the bed. Not exactly a bed but a mattress or a kind of futon placed on a 20 cm high wooden platform. It’s a bit hard to get on it, a bit hard to get up from it. Who cares?
In Japan, I slept like a Japanese, in MUJI’s dark blue cotton pajamas waiting for me in the closet (which they explicitly ask not to wear to the lobby). The discussed futon-mattress was super comfortable, the blanket, pillows, and white linens, like the entire room, were super clean, exuding an extreme cleanliness scent, and so I slept super well. It’s no coincidence; the company says great attention was paid to ensure the room renews the travelers' bodies and spirits, with mattresses based on sleep and posture research, bath towels gentle to the touch, and lighting designed to guide guests to natural sleep. These are "spaces created to offer exceptional relaxation," MUJI promises. Smoking is prohibited, and the only option for those still clinging to the bad habit is within the MUJI Pocket, a smoking room inside the vending machine room on the lobby floor. This is because in Tokyo, smoking on the street is also forbidden, except in closed booths set up for this purpose.
Cleaning Private Areas at the Push of a Button
Amid the emphasis on the natural experience, technology is also present. It's there, albeit not in the latest versions, but in the background. For example, free wireless internet (2.4 GHz) is available throughout the hotel and in the room. The tablet on the desk controls the air conditioning and the opening and closing of the blackout curtain to darken the room even during the day. There is no phone; communication with the reception and, if necessary, with the outside world is done through the tablet. There are plenty of outlets for electrical devices (in Japan, they are shaped like American outlets) and USB ports. There's more: a large wall speaker (by Muji, of course) can connect via Bluetooth to your phone or tablet. There is an air purifier and an aromatic air purifier with a light, emitting water vapors. During check-in, they will seriously offer you a tiny ampoule with a cypress or grapefruit scent for it, your choice.
In Japan, technological advancement and electronics do not clash with Zen. They complement it. For instance, the thin card used to open the room, operate the elevator, and enter the hotel after midnight, which appears to be made of veneer wood, undoubtedly contains the necessary chip. The sophisticated shower faucet, with water flowing into some hidden channel, and the highlight of the bathroom is the electronic Toto toilet, featuring a heated seat and cleaning of private areas with warm water, all at the push of a button—something that has become standard in every newly built house in recent years in Japan.
Forget about the toilet. What truly stands out is the service. The human service at the "Muji" hotel excels with a dedicated staff that performs its duties with devotion, professionalism, and quietly, without disturbing. If something needs to be said, it is done almost in a whisper, as befits the brand and Japanese culture in general.
Although it is currently off-season in Japan, the hotel reports that it is almost fully booked until December. However, a check online shows that it is still possible to secure a few rooms with flexible dates. Prices in the deals are 1,193 shekels per night for a couple, including taxes and fees, or 1,335 shekels with breakfast included - for two people.
A few things in favor of Tokyo beyond the hotel itself. First, contrary to the stereotype - due to the weak yen which has lost half its value against the shekel since 2012, as of 2024 Japan is not expensive for Israeli travelers. In many aspects, Tokyo is much cheaper for tourists than Jerusalem, with prices in most categories (hotel, transportation, entertainment) being about half of those in New York. You can find a direct flight there with El Al for $998 (which also saves and cuts about 10 hours of a European connection). Second, unlike in the past, today with an iPhone in hand and Google Maps open, it is not difficult to navigate, including using its extensive subway network. Third, it seems that no one here has heard of the conflict you are escaping from for some relaxation, and no one will bother you about it. Overall, Tokyo is considered the safest city in the world, day and night, for travelers, including solo travelers.
Sayonara.
The writer was not a guest of any tourism entity or had any other vested interest.