MOYASHI HOUSE IN KYOTO.

120 years ago it was an indoor greenhouse for growing koji seeds, a key ingredient in sake as well as miso and soy sauce. Now, thanks to a small group of friends, it’s been beautifully renovated into the Kyoto Moyashi House. Whether you’re looking for an authentic place to stay or to host an off-site seminar, the large Machiya can serve as a unique backdrop.

More Via spoon-tamago.com

Kyoto Moyashi House Via spoon-tamago.com-Photo by  Craig Mod 

Tomas Maier joins fight to save Hotel Okura.

As the creative director of Bottega Veneta, Tomas Maier has consistently sought to protect the brand’s heritage of craftsmanship. In this same spirit, Maier is now taking on a new kind of preservation project. In partnership with the Japanese publication Casa Brutus, Maier and Bottega Veneta have launched an initiative to raise awareness of the potential destruction of numerous significant Modernist buildings in Japan due to economics, politics and the preparation for the 2020 Olympics.

Maier, the son of an architect and a lifelong architecture enthusiast, became interested in Japanese Modernism in the mid-1980s when he first visited the Hotel Okura, a 1962 landmark designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi. (Supporters of the campaign are encouraged to use the hashtag #mymomentatokura to document their favorite details of the building on social media.) In the video shown here, Maier discusses the campaign and explores the hotel’s unique features, which continue to inspire his work. “It would be a great loss for the next generation to be unable to embrace the beauty of these icons for themselves,” he says. via: tmagazine

La Reserve Paris-Opening soon...

" Everything about La Réserve, a new Haussmann-style hotel and spa opening soon in the Eighth Arrondissement in Paris, harkens back to the grandeur of the Belle Époque. Like previous collaborations between the interior designer Jacques Garcia and the hotelier and vintner Michel Reybier (La Réserve’s Geneva property and the chateau at Reybier’s 225-acre vineyard in Bordeaux), the secluded 40-room residence is an exercise in effortless glamour, adorned with rare antiques and draped in ghost damask, papal purple and ballet-satin pink. For the full Baudelairian experience, there’s also a smoking parlor and round-the-clock butler service."

via: TMagazine

La Reserve-Paris

HOSHINOYA-KYOTO- Art of OMOTENASHI

Recently, John and I experienced the Omotenashi at Hoshinoya Kyoto: Omotenashi is the Heart of Japanese Hospitality:
To Japanese, "omotenashi" means not just hospitality in the usual sense, but "something more akin to an elevated politeness that makes customers feel valued and respected”.

Hoshinoya Kyoto is a short boat ride from the center of Arashiyama, close to the city’s famous bamboo forests. 
It is a beautiful 100 year old  Ryokan restored with modern facilities yet preserving the old charm.

Two gardens are designed according to Zen principles to give the effect of flowing water. Architect Rie Azuma and landscape designer Hiroki Hasegawa have done a fantastic job building this zen Japanese resort around 400 year old from a private home of a local merchant.

 Hoshinoya Kyoto

Night boat ride

Boat ride from Togetsukyo Bridge

Night view of main buildings

The Tsuki Maisonette

Library lounge

Monko preparation (incense ceremony) 

 In Monko, you bury a small burning charcoal in ash within a small pot or cup. You then artfully and carefully create a mound of the ash, in which you create a small channel through which the charcoal’s heat can be channelled. A small square of glass is placed over the channel’s opening. On this is placed a small piece of wood, which releases its fragrance as it heats up.

Incens  flavours. 

Traditional writing set,  & Japanese games.

John & I, ready for our tea ceremony

Our tea ceremony in the zen garden.

Our lounge area with view

View of Ooi River

Arashiyama bamboo forest

Kaiseki

ANDAZ TOKYO-

Today June11th 2014, Tokyo’s newest hotel – ANDAZ  - opened in the gleaming Toranomon Hills complex. The 12th Andaz in the world, Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills is the fourth Hyatt brand to open in Tokyo and the ninth Hyatt hotel in Japan.

Occupying the top six floors of the 52-story Toranomon Hills tower, the Andaz has 164 guestrooms, four dining and drinking venues, three Andaz Studios, the highest stand-alone chapel, a spa and fitness center overlooking the Imperial Palace.

More: ANDAZ TOKYO