tokyo

Rent the Entire Mandarin Oriental Tokyo For One Night at $670,000

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wealth

To celebrate its fifth anniversary Tokyo's luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel is offering the opportunity to rent the entire property for one night for 55 million yen, or about $670,000. The price includes the exclusive use of all the hotel's 157 guest rooms and 21 suites, including the posh Presidential Suite, its nine restaurants, cocktail bars, spa, fitness center and Grand Ballroom. The package, available until Nov. 30, 2011 and easily the world's most expensive hotel offering, also comes with a cocktail reception for 500 people with the dessert portion catered by an award-winning Japanese pastry chef, the Wall St. Journal reports. Gen Yoshida, the hotel's communications officer, says it is the first time for any Mandarin Oriental to offer such a package. The Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group currently operates, or has under development, 41 luxury hotels spread across 27 countries.

Gallery: Mandarin Oriental Tokyo

Tags: hotel, hotel suites, Japan, luxury hotels, Mandarin Oriental, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, spa, Tokyo, worlds most expensive

The Gap Collaborates with 10 Corso Como to Celebrate its Debut in Italy

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Luxury Shopping

An iconic American company is collaborating with an Italian design powerhouse with a co-branded line of T-shirts, sweatshirts and bags.

To celebrate its upcoming expansion in Italy, The Gap is partnering with 10 Corso Como to launch a limited edition collection in Milan, Italy during Milan Fashion Week. The collection will available at a temporary store on September 22 exclusively at 10 Corso Como.

The Corso Como Gap collection of tees, sweatshirts and bags will feature two themes on styles that are at the heart of The Gap's collections--the tee and the sweatshirt, as well as a series of matching cotton tote bags. One design features Corso Como's signature 'circles' graphic. The second designs features illustrations selected by the store's legendary founder, Carla Sozzani, from the work of American artist Kris Ruhs. The collection will be available in both men's and women's sizes.

Gallery: 10 Corso Como and The Gap

Tags: 10 Corso Como, Banana Republic, Design, Milan, Shopping, The Gap, Tokyo

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The 5 Most-Naked, Least-Modest Spa Treatments in the World

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

When you go to a spa, you expect a few nods to modesty -- a private room, for instance, and artful draping of your naughty bits, which are usually Not to Be Touched. And while spas that cater to Westerners around the world do tend to observe these protocols, there are a few entirely legit spa treatments that make these modesty-preserving measures entirely counterproductive.

Here are five spa treatments for which you'll just need to let it all hang out.

1. Turkish Hammam: A Turkish Hammam is sort of a like a communal bath, where you spend time in rooms of varying heat. The highlight is having your skin nearly flayed off with a loofah. (Some people call the resulting ribbons of removed skin "spaghetti".) In a traditional hammam, this scrubbing is administered by a person wearing a bathing suit, and usually within few view of everyone else. My observation has been that people mostly avert their gaze from the scrubee, these are rarely attractive angles for anyone.

There are spas that offer a more modest variation on a hammam treatment. The spa at La Mamounia, for instance, has a shared steam room (which you enter wearing a bathrobe, leave it on or take it off as you wish), and then a private room for the scrub-a-dub, with private shower. The post-hammam moisturizer is applied in a communal relaxation room, so gaze aversion strategies are still a must if you don't want to get an eyeful.

Tags: germany, hammam, India, japan, most naked spa treatments, naked, spa, tokyo

Continue reading “The 5 Most-Naked, Least-Modest Spa Treatments in the World”

Tokyo's "New" City Airport

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

The Haneda Airport is not exactly new, but now extended and refurbished, it is a much better bet than Narita International which opened in 1978. Starting October 31, you can now fly right into this city airport within Tokyo if you are booked on American, Delta or some 15 other international airlines. If you have ever struggled getting out of Narita, you will recognize in a flash what a coup this is for airline travelers. From Haneda, you can catch the spiffy Tokyo Monorail which runs every three to five minutes to central Tokyo. Several taxi companies have also reset their rates so that a trip from Haneda to the inner city will set you back roughly $68. (A taxi from Narita to central Tokyo is more than $200.)

Tags: Haneda Airport, Japan Travel, Tokyo

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The Classicist: 'Take Ivy' - The Original Preppy Handbook

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Books, Men's Style, The Classicist

Take Ivy, with photos by Japan's T. Hayashida, is truly the original preppy handbook, first published way back in 1965 – in Japanese. In the early 1960s Kensuke Ishizu, the founder of an Ivy League-inspired clothing line called Van Jacket, commissioned Hayashida and three other Japanese disciples of clean-cut American style to go on a "fact-finding mission" to all of the States' eight Ivy League colleges – Havard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell – chronicling every element of the students' style along the way. Hayashida took tens of thousands of photos at the colleges, then went on to document the stores the students patronized, the cars they drove and even Ivy League grads working on Madison Avenue. When first published in Japan the book sparked a huge trend for Ivy League fashion among Japanese youths who frequented Tokyo's hip Ginza shopping district.

In subsequent decades the book developed a huge cult following among sartorial connoisseurs, with rare original editions selling for thousands of dollars on eBay. The New York Times called it "a treasure of fashion insiders" and cited its influence on a number of men's fashion designers in an article last year, noting photocopied versions were being passed around design studios helping to spark a whole new trend. Now powerHouse Books is re-issuing the book this month, with a long-awaited English translation; J.Crew has also printed 300 limited edition copies in a special case in celebration to be sold in select J.Crew mens shops, the perfect accompaniment to the Ivy-inspired clothing on its shelves; J. Crew men's designer Frank Muytjens says he was "obsessed" by the book and it's timeless appeal.

Gallery: Take Ivy

While The Official Preppy Handbook, which came out 15 years later, is rather tongue-in-cheek, Take Ivy's approach to the subject is downright scholarly. The implications of 'Ivy Style' "go beyond the group of eight prestigious universities that belong to the Ivy League, American football, or the vine itself that covers the buildings of Ivy League schools," the authors note. "It is also not simply about Madison Avenue, Brooks Brothers, modern jazz and folk songs. They do play a part in defining 'Ivy' as a whole, but each of them is only a peripheral component.... In order to understand the spirit of 'Ivy', you must appreciate and master all aspects of American East Coast culture." Thus the back of the book features instructions on building the perfect Ivy League wardrobe including how to wear key items along with a whole compendium of the Ivy League ethos.

Tags: books, Brooks Brothers, clothing, coffee table books, eBay, Harvard, Ivy League, J.Crew, Japan, mens style, menswear, photography, powerHouse Books, preppy, Princeton, Tokyo, university, Yale

De Beers Creates Unique Window Display In Japan

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

The world of 3D has come to diamonds. De Beers has created a special exhibition in the setting of world famous department store,Isetan, in Tokyo. The Art of Diamond Jewelry exhibition will run until July 21st in all the windows of Isetan, giving customers an insider view of De Beers Diamond Jewelry through photography and multimedia displays. A specially created 3D film by Holition, leaders in advanced 3D technology applications for retail, and Pointy Stick brings the magic and allure of the jewelry to life in a new way. The 3D film is shown on a customized screen that doesn't require 3D glasses. The stereoscopic display is a first for Japan and the jewelry world.

Tags: 3D, 3d display, de beers, isetan, japan, stereoscopic, stereoscopic 3D, stereoscopic-3d, tokyo

Japanese Architect's House Uses Supercars as Decor

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Estates, Luxury Cars & Autos

Japanese architect Takyua Tsuchida has designed the ultimate abode for a car collector short on space in Tokyo. The 2,000-sq.-ft. dwelling features a through-floor garage / lift / display unit so the owner can enjoy his assemblage of supercars as part of a rotating decor scheme. The storage space holds nine cars, including a special Anniversary Edition Lamborghini Countach, which can be elevated for display in the living room via a hydraulic platform. Dubbed the "KRE", the house is light, airy, modern and minimalist with unfinished wooden floors, the better to display the owner's supercar collection to advantage. The interior also features Bauhaus furniture and a full-sized living tree. Tsuchida's No. 555 design studio has won many awards and accolades from avant garde architecture publications.

Gallery: Supercar House by Takyua Tsuchida

Tags: architect, architecture, car collection, garage, Japan, Lamborghini, supercars, takyua tsuchida, Tokyo

The Downscaling of Ginza, The Changing Face Of Japanese Luxury

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Tokyo's Ginza district has long been known as Japan's most fashionable shopping street but the street's changes reflecting the country's fluctuating economic picture. The Independent has an interesting piece on the street's shifting fortunes which have seen luxury brands moving out to make room for a new kind of retailer. In 2008 Louis Vuitton scrapped plans for a new Ginza flagship store. Last year, Versace pulled out of Japan altogether. But those store windows aren't staying vacant. Instead fast fashion stores like Uniqlo, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M and Zara have moved in. The operators of Japan's Seibu department store announced that the store is closing but Forever 21 is moving in. Where there was once Gucci, now there is Gap.

Last year I wrote about the changing look of luxury in Japan. In the past years, logo-chasing was important to the Japanese shead-to-toe Louis Vuitton was seen as chic. Now many trendsetters favor a high-low approach, combining expensive pieces with more inexpensive items or pairing vintage finds with new pieces. The Ginza area still has enough fancy stores to attract tourists in search of a bit of glamour but with tourism down, focusing on more dependable, regular shoppers seems like a smart strategy.

Tags: fast fashion, FastFashion, forever 21, Forever21, ginza, gucci, hm, japan, louis vuitton, LouisVuitton, shopping, tokyo, zara

Tokyo Tops List Of Most Expensive Cities

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Where is it most expensive to live as an expatriate? According to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer you are going to spend the most in Japan. Tokyo owns the top spot with Osaka zooming up to second, up nine places since last year. In third place is Moscow which was first last year. Geneva rose four places to fourth position and Hong Kong rounds up the top five. The Mercer's survey uses New York s the base city for the index and scores 100 points. All cities are compared against New York and currency movements are measured against the US dollar. By this measure Tokyo scores 143.7 points and is nearly three times as costly as Johannesburg which has an index score of 49.6 and is at the bottom of the list of 143 cities across six continents. The list measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location and takes housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment into account. The survey is conducted to help corporations set pay rates for international employees.

Some cities fell dramatically in the rankings. Warsaw was down 78 places from 35th to 113th. London was down 13 places to 16th, Sydney has dropped 51 places from 15th to 66th and Mumbai went from 48th place to 66th. Meanwhile cities in the US, China, Japan and the Middle East went up in the ranks. In a press release, Nathalie Constantin-Métral, a senior researcher at Mercer said that the economic downturn has caused fluctuations in most of the world's currencies leading to the reshuffling of the ranks.

[via Bloomberg]

Source

Tags: cost of living, CostOfLiving, japan, most expensive cities, MostExpensiveCities, osaka, tokyo

Gerald Genta Disney Tokyo Resort Limited Edition Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Mickey is 80 years old and Disney Tokyo (we say "Tokyo Disney") is 25 years old. As a kid I recall wanting to visit all the Disney Lands/Worlds around the globe. So far I have hit up two. Not very good follow-through. In celebration of the anniversary, Gerald Genta (who has partnered with Disney for a while to make Mickey Mouse watches) will release this limited edition Disney Tokyo Resort watch.

The timepiece features two classically styled Mickeys on the dial. The larger of the two on the top is reaching out and grabbing an actual diamond located at the "25" marker on the retrograde minute dial. You surely know what that 25 stands for. The hours are shown through a jumping hour widow located off center to the left of Mickey, while the seconds are displayed normally around the whole dial. The lower part of the dial is a retrograde date indicator with the hand being Mickey's arm. The case of the Gerald Genta watch is in titanium and inside is an automatic mechanical movement with a solid gold rotor. The strap is sporty and rubber. Certainly the cream of the crop for Disney watch collectors, and to a slightly lesser degree Gerald Genta watch collectors. Available in just 80 pieces.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: anniversary, disney, gerald genta, GeraldGenta, limited edition, LimitedEdition, mickey mouse, MickeyMouse, resort, tokyo, watch

AIG Looking For A Billion Dollar Sale In Japan

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Embattled insurer American International Group (AIG) might be getting a billion-dollar boost through a real estate deal. Bloomberg reports that AIG is involved in a deal to sell its Tokyo headquarters building, shown above, to Nippon Life Insurance Co., Japan's largest life insurer, for close to a nice round billion. The 15-story tower is located in central Tokyo's Marunouchi district, the most expensive office district in Japan, next to the Imperial Palace, and the price certainly doesn't suggest that it's an emergency sale. Commercial values in Tokyo did fall over six percent last year and office vacancy but it is still the third highest city in the world for office real estate. In March AIG was said to be looking to earn a far smaller number, around $100 million by selling its 66-story Art Deco headquarters at 70 Pine Street in Manhattan.

Source

Tags: aig, commerical real estate, CommericalRealEstate, japan, nippon life insurance, NipponLifeInsurance, tokyo

First All-White Leica M8 Spotted in Tokyo

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

The first model of Leica's chic new limited edition all-white digital camera which we scooped the world on earlier this month has just been spotted at the Audi Forum Tokyo. It's pictured above with a velvet purple Audi R8 as a backdrop. The German Car Blog posted the sighting along with the news that the camera is expected to be available around the end of May for roughly 7,000 euros, or around $9,000. The special edition camera is based on Leica's M8.2 model with 10.3 megapixel resolution and the Leica ELMARIT-M 28 mm f/2.8 ASPH lens.

Tags: Audi, camera, Leica, Tokyo

Louis Vuitton Luggage for New Infiniti Concept Car

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Luxury Japanese auto maker Infiniti plans to unveil a new concept car at next month's Geneva Auto Show that comes complete with a set of custom Louis Vuitton luggage. Infiniti design boss Shiro Nakamura is pictured above with one of the high-tech Vuitton designs at the LV store in Roppongi, Tokyo earlier this week. Regarding the vehicle, Infiniti has said only that it represents "a celebration of the brand and its 20 years of history as a creator of sporty luxury vehicles," and described it as an "exploration into the brand's future," MotorAuthority reports. The Vuitton / Infiniti partnership is the latest in a line of luxury label collaborations with car marques, including Hermes and Bugatti, Prada and Hyundai (and now Audi as well), Versace and Lamborghini, and Dunhill and Bentley.

Tags: Concept car, ConceptCar, Geneva Auto Show, GenevaAutoShow, Infiniti, Louis Vuitton, LouisVuitton, Luggage, Tokyo

24 Karat Gold Tokyo Tower

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

It's always interesting to see what people are making out of gold, and this time it's a replica of the Tokyo Tower.

Made of 24 karat gold and true-to-detail in almost every way (except size of course) the replica even includes a representation of the four story shopping and dining center called Foot Town located at the tower's base.

The gold masterpiece stands about 26 inches high and weighs in at 11 lbs. Price? $510,000.

Source

Tags: tokyo, tokyo tower, TokyoTower, tower

Ridiculously Sparkly Mercedes-Benz at the Tokyo Auto Salon

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

This is ridiculous.

Remember the $350,000 Swarovski-studded Mercedes-Benz at the 2007 Moscow Millionaire Fair? Well, they've done it again.

The above photo is from the Tokyo Auto Salon 2009, and it features a customized Mercedes-Benz SL600 (aka the Luxury Crystal Benz) covered in 300,000 Swarovski crystals. We don't know how much it costs, but frankly, we weren't about to purchase it.

Even Barbie wouldn't get in that gaudy thing.

[via Luxury Launches]

Tags: 2009, auto show, automobiles, AutoShow, benz, car, cars, mercedes, mercedes-benz, swarovski, tokyo, tokyo auto salon, TokyoAutoSalon