Park Hyatt Tokyo Reopens After a 19-Month Restoration

Park Hyatt Tokyo reopened on 9 December 2025 after being closed for nineteen months. It was the most thorough renovation since the hotel opened in July 1994, and the brief was an unusual one. The work was to renew everything and to change as little as possible.

A hotel people did not want altered

The hotel occupies the top fourteen floors, the 39th to the 52nd, of Shinjuku Park Tower, a group of three linked towers designed by Kenzo Tange. It was the first Park Hyatt in Asia. The interiors were the work of John Morford, an American designer based in Hong Kong, who gave it dark wood, green marble, low light, bookshelves and a calm that owed nothing to the fashions of the day.

In 2003 Sofia Coppola filmed Lost in Translation there, and the New York Bar on the top floor, with its jazz band and its view over the lights of Shinjuku, became one of the best-known rooms in any hotel. Regular guests were attached to the place as it was, and news of a redesign was received with some anxiety.

What was done

The work was given to Jouin Manku, the Paris studio of Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku. They kept Morford’s plan and palette in the public rooms. The New York Grill and Bar were restored to their original design, with the same paintings and the same open kitchen. The Peak Lounge, under its glass pyramid and bamboo, was kept. Kozue, the Japanese restaurant, continues to serve kaiseki with a view of Mount Fuji on clear days.

The bedrooms were rebuilt. There are now 171 rooms and suites, slightly fewer than before. The standard room is 55 square metres. A new category, the Park Suite, measures 85 square metres. The Diplomat, Governor’s and Presidential suites were redesigned, and the Tokyo Suite was returned to Morford’s original specification.

The one new restaurant is Girandole by Alain Ducasse, which replaces the former brasserie with a French menu using Japanese produce. Club On The Park, the spa and gym on the 45th and 47th floors, was renewed. Its twenty-metre pool lies under a glass roof fourteen metres high.

For travellers

The hotel stands on the western side of Shinjuku, about twelve minutes on foot from the station, with a shuttle bus for guests. It is some distance from the newer luxury hotels of Marunouchi and Toranomon, and its appeal is different: height, quiet and a long history. Our guide to where to stay in Tokyo compares the districts. The New York Bar takes no reservations for the bar itself and charges a cover in the evening when the band plays.

The hotel returned to The World’s 50 Best Hotels extended list in 2026, as noted in our report on the Asian hotels ranked 51 to 100.