HOTEL THE MITSUI HAKONE

HOTEL THE MITSUI HAKONE occupies roughly 135,000 square meters of hillside in Kowakudani, the Hakone hot spring valley in Kanagawa Prefecture, on land that once held the private villa retreats of the Mitsui family. Yabu Pushelberg leads the interior design across a low-slung, three-story structure that steps down a 45-meter change in elevation, with Nikken Sekkei managing the project and Takenaka Corporation building it. The 126 rooms span ten types, from 48-square-meter Deluxe Rooms to a 240-square-meter Presidential Suite, and every one draws the site's high-saline spring water into a private hot spring bath. Shared facilities centre on the Thermal Spring, an indoor and outdoor bathing pavilion, alongside five spa treatment rooms, a fitness gym and walking paths threading the wooded grounds. Dining runs across three venues: Sankei for Japanese cuisine, the all-day RIVERINE, and The Bar LAMBENT, with SHIKI-AN, a traditional sukiya-style tea space, held apart for ceremony. The property sits a short walk from Kowakudani Station on the Hakone Tozan Railway, roughly 90 minutes from central Tokyo.