One of the World’s Most Iconic Hotels Just Reopened in Tokyo. What’s Changed? | Vogue

"Reopened after a 19‑month closure, this icon atop Shinjuku Park Tower feels more like a careful “renewal” than an overhaul: the cool‑toned green carpets chosen by original designer John Morford, the woodwork and art, and the low‑lit anterooms that open into cinematic, light‑filled atriums with windows stretching over Tokyo to Mount Fuji are all still here. The Lost in Translation aura endures—guests go up to the New York Bar asking “Were they sitting here?”, posing on the window ledge; during filming, crews worked from roughly 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., and Bill Murray would sometimes rest on a 41st‑floor settee. In the rooms, freestanding bathtubs and right angles give way to smoother, curved lines, self‑contained bathrooms, and lengthened headboards in clay‑hued leather, keeping the restraint, quiet strength, and the “elegant blend of the East and the West” Sofia Coppola hoped would remain. Designers Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku describe the challenge as a tightrope—doing enough to rekindle warmth while preserving the hotel’s iconic character for the next 30 years." - Nick Remsen