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An ochanoma lounge at Hoshinoya Tokyo. All photos courtesy of Hoshinoya Resorts. A stay at Tokyo's first luxury ryokan did not disappoint. Fathom editor Berit Baugher checked into the city's most talked about new hotel. TOKYO – On a recent visit to Japan I checked into Hoshinoya Tokyo , one of the city's newest and most exciting hotel openings . Styled after a traditional Japanese inn , also known as a ryokan , the quiet 84- room hotel feels worlds away from the busy streets of Tokyo. Historically, ryokans are low-key affairs with minimal furnishings and services, shared bathrooms, and no heating or air conditioning. Hoshinoya Tokyo embraces the tradition of simplicity, but through an elevated and luxurious lens, differentiating it from other urban ryokans. Upon entering the hotel, I instantly felt at peace; fragrant incense filled the air and soft Japanese music played in the background. Instead of a traditional lobby , I was greeted by an attendant in a room laye...

Take Your Shoes Off Minka , or traditional Japanese houses , are characterized by tatami mat flooring , sliding doors, and wooden engawa verandas. Another aspect that persists even in Western-style homes in Japan is the genkan , an entrance hall where people remove footwear . The flooring for the house proper is raised a little off the ground to prevent dampness from entering and to keep the living area from flooding in the case of heavy rain. The lower level is known as the tataki , and was traditionally made of packed earth, although concrete is common today. After removal, shoes are put in the getabako —a cabinet that derives its name from geta, or wooden clogs, that Japanese people once commonly wore. A genkan entrance hall with a getabako (left) for shoes and a tataki (foreground). Heavy rain can damage roofs, so outside the entrance, amadoi gutters carry rainfall off the eaves and down the decorative kusaridoi , or “rain chain.” Rainwater travels along the gutter and down ...