4 Seasons Osaka Assessment – The Factors Man

In Japan, the nation’s historic previous and historic traditions dwell in concord with its ultramodern applied sciences and superior methods of dwelling.

For these planning a visit to Japan, this may be skilled by means of time spent in conventional ryokans — or Japanese inns — which regularly really feel like stepping again in time. On the other finish of the spectrum, capsule motels provide particular person sleeping pods stacked rows excessive and hallways lengthy for an in a single day expertise straight out of a sci-fi film.

In Osaka, a towering new 4 Seasons desires vacationers to expertise one of the best of the nation’s legendary hospitality traditions alongside the trendy facilities and companies the model is thought for. To try this, 4 Seasons Osaka provides commonplace high-end rooms in addition to a contemporary ryokan ground that delivers 4 Seasons’ first-ever tackle Japan’s conventional tatami room-style lodging, full with a lounge.

Regardless of the boiling solar bearing down on Japan in August, I journeyed to Osaka for a two-night keep — one in a normal room and one in a ryokan-style room — on this glitzy and glimmering new 4 Seasons. From one of the beautiful swimming swimming pools I’ve ever skilled to an expensive tackle an historic method of sleeping, this resort defied my already excessive expectations.

Here is what it is like staying on the 4 Seasons Osaka, the most recent 4 Seasons resort in Japan.

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Getting there

4 Seasons Osaka is situated within the Kita Ward’s Dojima district, a historic space that dates again to the late seventeenth century and is dwelling to the world’s first commodity futures change (rice).

Immediately, the bigger Osaka space (consisting of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto) has a number of completely different airports, with the principle two being Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX), which handles worldwide flights, and Itami Airport (ITM), providing home flights.

Kansai Worldwide is about 40 miles away from the resort and can take round an hour’s drive and value upwards of $130. Alternatively, trains into Osaka can be found for lower than $20 and a bus is accessible for about $11. From Itami Airport, public buses and transportation can be found between the airport and main prepare stations for lower than $5. In any other case, a taxi will will take round 20 minutes to town heart and value $50 or extra.

If arriving by Shinkansen, Japan’s famed bullet prepare, as I did, you will arrive at Shin-Osaka station, which is about quarter-hour from the resort through automobile. We shortly grabbed a taxi and made it to the 4 Seasons for lower than $20. You can even switch to the subway and experience 4 stops on the Tokaido-Sanyo Line for a 15-minute commute that prices only a few bucks.

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Reserving particulars

Sadly, 4 Seasons does not have a loyalty program at this level (although we would like to see one sometime), and having simply opened in August, the resort is so new that it is not but a part of a bank card reserving program, like Amex High quality Accommodations + Resorts or Chase’s The Edit, which each provide elitelike perks together with potential room upgrades, early check-in, late checkout and on-site credit score for eating or a spa therapy. That stated, they’re going to possible be added to these collections within the close to future.

For now, you may guide immediately on the resort’s web site with money for charges beginning round $651 per night time for a conventional room and $807 for a Gensui fashionable ryokan-floor room.

Standout options

• 4 Seasons’ luxe tackle a ryokan is a good way to expertise conventional Japanese hospitality with a contemporary twist.
• From the swimming pool to Bar Bota, the sky-high views of Osaka are mesmerizing.
• The breakfast buffet at Jardin, the sun-drenched foyer restaurant, provided a feast every morning.
• Chef Raymond Wong Wai Man’s Cantonese restaurant Jiang Nan Chun provides a surprising tasting menu that mixes surprising textures with unforgettable flavors.
• Within the Thirty sixth-floor spa, conventional Japanese baths, or ofuros, permit company to soak face-to-face with the skyline.

Drawbacks

• You may have to attend earlier than having the ability to guide by means of a program that gives elitelike perks.
• Whereas the resort was simple sufficient to get to and from, the situation felt a bit of sleepy and set again from town itself.
• Having opened at first of August, the resort, nonetheless in its toddler stage, was figuring out some small service hiccups — and that is to be anticipated.

The vibe

Taking on a sequence of midlevel flooring within the 49-story One Dojima constructing, in addition to the ground-floor foyer, the 4 Seasons Osaka is an elegant, if not dramatic, resort. It begins from the second company arrive and stroll previous a glass-enclosed set up of a kind of magically suspended rock planter holding a tree. That piece units the tone for the resort’s up to date artwork and design scheme, alongside beautiful elevator banks reflecting the orange coloring present in conventional urushi, or Japanese lacquered bins and different refined nods to Osaka, the Metropolis of Water.

All through my keep, and particularly on the communal breakfast space every morning, I loved observing the resort’s clientele, which ranged from giant, well-to-do American households tagging alongside on a father or mother’s work journey to worldwide enterprise individuals speaking store over espresso and stylish, designer-clad {couples} quietly communing over a Japanese breakfast.

At night time, the vibe shifted considerably on the thirty seventh ground when the bar — and its floor-to-ceiling home windows — became a social scorching spot with company, locals and all sorts of individuals vying for a seat with a view. It was an awesome place to finish an evening in Osaka, and proved that this new 4 Seasons is the total bundle from the minute you get up till you fall again into these feathery down pillows.

The rooms

For my two-night keep, I spent one night time in a junior suite and one night time in a tatami premier room on the Gensui fashionable ryokan ground.

The junior suite

Clocking in at 657 sq. toes, 4 Season Osaka’s junior suite felt palatial, particularly by Japanese requirements (and as somebody whose final journey to Japan concerned staying in a capsule-style hostel). Like most 4 Seasons, the design was up to date, mild, snug, homey and ethereal. Strolling in, eyes had been instantly drawn to the wall of home windows framing Osaka and the distant mountains, a daybed and a small desk sitting in entrance.

Strolling into the suite, I used to be instantly met with a walk-in closet providing loads of area to hold garments and unpack, in addition to facilities like umbrellas and, my favourite in-room amenity, a steamer.

Throughout the best way, a larger-than-life, kind of open-concept lavatory that may very well be closed off with sliding doorways, housed twin vainness sinks, an enormous soaking tub, a glass-enclosed bathe and a whole mirrored wall helpful for preparing. The high-tech Toto rest room with extra buttons than you may think about was in a separate room to the facet of the sinks.

Natura Bisse rosemary and white tea merchandise, like shampoo, soaps and lotions, had been positioned across the bathe and sq. tub.

A small however snug dwelling space with its personal large TV sat off to the facet of the beds.

Although the room was giant, the beds had been each doubles, which is the norm in Japan, even at luxurious motels. And whereas the beds had been small, they had been plush and comfy. One factor I really like about 4 Seasons is that the model has its personal line of bedding and mattresses, so you may at all times depend on constant, top-of-the-line sleeping expertise at its properties across the globe.

Throughout from the beds, a second TV was housed in a smooth leisure heart that additionally doubled because the minibar.

Saved in and across the area had been Nespresso pods, numerous Japanese teas, sodas, juices, wines, spirits and beers. Additionally within the room had been numerous snacks “with compliments” together with a bit of bag of 4 Seasons-branded black pepper honey nuts that I’ll dream about for the remainder of my life.

Whereas the room itself was practically flawless, the high-rise views of Osaka made it even higher.

The tatami premier room

The twenty eighth ground of 4 Seasons Osaka is a hotel-within-a-hotel idea known as Gensui, the trendy ryokan ground that has 21 tatami rooms and suites and an unique lounge providing conventional Japanese meals, snacks, teas and sakes. Gensui is a reference to each the darkish parts of the expertise (gen) and Kyoto being the Metropolis of Water (sui).

In Japan, tatami mats maintain a lot cultural significance and are utilized in on a regular basis life, from eating to enjoyable and even working and sleeping. 4 Seasons’ tackle a tatami-style room mixed the normal with fashionable, luxurious components, making for a novel expertise that was nonetheless completely snug and sensible (a minimum of for these of us unfamiliar with the sort of room or hospitality fashion).

Arriving for our one-night keep in a tatami premier room, the vibe on the ryokan-style ground shifted considerably. Within the hallway, darkish and moody lighting, deeper and darker hues and tones and an general sense of calm, quiet and respect guided us to our room.

On entry into the room, we discovered ourselves in a kind of u-shaped room that doubled as the lavatory and entryway and was divided by a big double-sided closet standing freely in the course of the room. A helpful bench sat in opposition to the entry wall, permitting for company take footwear off and change into slippers earlier than coming into the tatami room the place, in Japanese tradition, you need to take away your footwear.

The lavatory facet of the primary room had one giant vainness with a sink under an fascinating set of mirrors, a separate room for the bathroom and bathrobes hanging on the wall.

The washing space of the room is an ideal instance of outdated meets new, as a small wood bench and bucket sit within the bathe, alongside the identical Natura Bisse merchandise, permitting for a conventional Japanese-style tub the place you may fill the bucket, sit on the bench and bathe. In a conventional scenario, you may rinse, get within the neighboring bathtub and soak after which get out and actually wash off. However since it is a personal expertise, you may benefit from the bathtub/bathe combo nonetheless you want.

Within the tatami room, 4 Seasons and SIMPLICITY design studios introduced one of the best of what a tatami room is perhaps like in somebody’s dwelling, and married it with the wants and desires of a 4 Seasons traveler. For the beds, that meant highend futon bedding ready on an elevated platform moderately than having company unroll minimally crammed futons out on the ground within the conventional fashion.

Every of the dual futons had a nightstand with built-in electrical shops in addition to automated controls for the curtains, shades and lights.

A desk and chair, each purposefully low to the bottom, sat within the far nook of the room, together with a big TV and a bit of area with a minibar, a tea kettle and a few extra Japanese snacks (nonetheless fascinated about these black pepper honey nuts).

Company who guide into the Gensui ground can test in immediately within the Gensui lounge on the twenty eighth ground,

Top-of-the-line elements of the Gensui expertise is gaining access to the Sabo Lounge, additionally on the twenty eighth ground. Company who guide a tatami room are whisked as much as the lounge for check-in and may reap the benefits of it all through the day by having fun with a really genuine Japanese bento field for breakfast, tea all through the day and Japanese liquors and sakes from 5 p.m.

I had the chance to attempt the breakfast bento field within the lounge and completely loved the expertise. Together with a (not-so-traditional) iced espresso, the bento field included a bunch of issues my Western eyes acknowledged (some fish, tofu, rice, a phenomenal egg and miso soup) in addition to a number of issues I could not place (many pickled veggies, numerous fascinating jelly-like textures and little bites that, even after being advised what it was, I nonetheless actually had no thought).

The bento field breakfast was certainly one of my highlights in Japan as a result of it afforded me the prospect to attempt a bunch of latest meals as a part of a conventional Japanese expertise that I possible would not have had elsewhere.

After I had entry to the Soba Lounge, it was very crowded with individuals consuming breakfast so I used to be unable to get an awesome picture, just like the official picture above, to indicate simply how stunning the lounge is.

Bars and eating places at 4 Seasons Osaka

Throughout the towering resort, there are many locations to eat, together with on the thirty seventh ground, the place you may get pleasure from gourmand Cantonese meals, a haute French tackle sushi and bespoke cocktails, all with sky-high views of Osaka. On the bottom degree, an all-day French restaurant serving a beautiful breakfast buffet and a bakery, Farine, creating stunning pastries that appeared too stunning to eat.

Jardin

The breakfast buffet at Jardin, an ethereal restaurant that was bustling within the morning, was a mixture of Western and Japanese favorites, plus a number of a la carte and made-to-order choices. I loved all the pieces I ate, together with fried eggs, sauteed mushrooms, breakfast sausage, avocado toast and a bowl of noodles in a hearty broth with a hard-boiled egg.

It was the pastry part that actually spoke to me, particularly the larger-than-life almond croissants and matcha-topped muffins.

Jardin can also be open for lunch and dinner, in addition to afternoon tea companies.

Jiang Nan Chun

Again on the thirty seventh ground, eating at Jiang Nan Chun was a pleasant, over-the-top occasion I would suggest to anybody searching for an upscale eating expertise in a food-forward metropolis like Osaka the place lots of the greatest native dishes are present in hole-in-the-wall eating places and from avenue distributors.

In the mean time, Jiang Nan Chun is providing set menus for lunch beginning at 6,800 yen ($46) for a dim sum set to 14,200 yen ($96) for a seasonal lunch set. For dinner, tasting menus vary from 16,800 yen ($114) to 24,400 yen ($166).

Our tasting menu was unimaginable and featured a number of standout gadgets that I beloved, like a marinated slow-cooked egg with Kaviari Kristal caviar, chilled cherry tomatoes infused with preserved plums, marinated lobster in Sichuan pepper oil, a deep-fried crab shell filled with crab meat that was completely mouthwatering and got here with two crab-shaped jellies, and, for dessert, a handcrafted bean curd flower with rock sugar syrup that was truthfully too beautiful to eat … simply kidding, I ate it.

Bar Bota

Additionally up on 37 is Bar Bota, a phenomenal cocktail bar underneath the path of Andrei Marcu. Moreover the breathtaking views of town, resort company and locals mingle round a Japanese spirits-forward cocktail menu with drinks just like the Umeboshi Martini made with pink ume-washed gin, bonito, Mancino Blanco vermouth and umami bitters, or the Dotonbori Slider, crafted with Lillet Blanc, Japanese Tremendous Citrus triple sec, pink peppercorn, cream and a milk foam cracker, each for two,500 yen ($17).

Everybody who visits Bar Bota additionally will get a welcome deal with of kakigori, a bit of style of Japanese shaved ice.

The bar additionally has a small menu of bar snacks and sweets like okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake (2,500 yen, $17), or chocolate bon bons (2,200 yen, $15).

Facilities and repair

Japan’s spa and wellness tradition is certainly one of my favourite issues about visiting the nation, even when I am not likely that a lot of a wellness particular person at coronary heart (or at dwelling). And 4 Seasons Osaka makes that simple for company, whether or not you desire a full-on therapeutic massage therapy, wish to hand around in the gender-separated public baths or simply want to calm down and take within the views on the indoor pool surrounded by floor-to-ceiling home windows.

On the spa, there are 5 therapy rooms, together with a pair’s room, providing an in depth and imaginative therapy menu. Certainly one of two signature remedies is impressed by the great thing about the traditional Empress Komyo and features a Nescens Stem Cells Activator Serum facial (100 minutes, 50,000 yen; $341). Different remedies embody massages, facials, pores and skin scrubs and wraps and extra.

If you do not have time or do not wish to spend cash on a spa therapy, I recommend benefiting from the ofuro, or public baths, and saunas which are separated by gender. There, you may rinse off in a conventional bathe or go Japanese fashion and use the general public baths (once more, the little stools and buckets of water) after which sit within the scorching communal waters searching on the large metropolis. I additionally loved enjoyable within the dry sauna.

Additionally a part of the spa expertise is the 52-foot indoor pool that wraps round a curved fringe of the constructing, permitting for metropolis views that stretch for miles. Plush loungers line the facet of the pool, making it an awesome place to calm down, learn or compensate for emails, even in case you by no means get within the water. Simply be aware that swim caps are required to enter the water.

And for individuals who prefer to work out (in contrast to me), there is a good gymnasium with loads of Life Health-branded gear and provoking views that make the thought of health rather less ugly.

Throughout the board, I discovered the service at 4 Seasons Osaka to be pleasant, environment friendly and what you’d count on from a 4 Seasons property — even one which was solely about two weeks outdated. Outdoors, somebody was at all times ready to seize us a taxi, and the reception desk simply transformed U.S. {dollars} into Japanese yen for us.

I additionally need to name out the breakfast workers at Jardin who actually saved me. As typically occurs, my keycard was deactivated one way or the other throughout a visit to the pool. I am sort one diabetic and, realizing my blood sugar was beginning to drop, determined to move again to my room however could not entry my ground on the elevator. Understanding I wanted juice, I went straight to Jardin, defined my scenario, and earlier than I knew it, that they had handed me juice, a phenomenal plate of pastries and even a brand new room key, saving me a visit to the entrance desk. These conditions will not be enjoyable and may be very panic-inducing, however the care the workers supplied for me made me really feel extremely secure. (Thanks!)

Out and about

In my two journeys to Osaka, I’ve fallen in love with town, its individuals and its meals. There are such a lot of issues you are able to do right here, from visiting Tremendous Mario World or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Common Studios Japan or monitoring again to historic occasions at Osaka Fortress.

Close to the resort, you may simply stroll to the Nakanoshima Museum of Artwork, Osaka, and the Nationwide Museum of Artwork, Osaka, or seize a taxi or soar on public transit to get across the metropolis.

If there’s one factor I might inform each single particular person to do, it is go on a meals tour of town. Particularly, go on the “Hungry Osaka Avenue Meals Tour” that I booked for about $86 per particular person on Viator. The tour takes you round Shinsekai, a vibrant and colourful neighborhood filled with hidden eating places, meals stalls and good occasions. Inclusive of meals and some drinks, you will spend a few hours consuming fried hen, completely different flavors of takoyaki (little fried balls with a chew of octopus) and different Osaka favorites in locations you’d possible by no means discover by yourself.

Accessibility

4 Seasons Osaka has a handful of accessible rooms and is accessible in lots of public areas all through the resort. As a contemporary metropolis resort, you will discover huge, wheelchair-friendly elevators and hallways, eating places and bars which are one degree and workers who’re prepared to assist with any lodging.

Nonetheless, there’s work that may be executed. Discovering out which rooms are accessible on-line is inconvenient and difficult, so I would suggest calling forward of time to substantiate that the resort can accommodate any particular wants.

Trying out

In the case of luxurious resort manufacturers, 4 Seasons stole my coronary heart and, having a number of the most memorable resort stays of my life with the model, I’ve excessive expectations once I’m fortunate sufficient to get to remain at one.

4 Seasons Osaka not solely captured precisely what 4 Seasons is known for — beautiful motels, impeccable service, past snug rooms and nice meals — however did so in a method that superbly integrated Japan’s personal distinct fashion of hospitality and tradition, making for a really memorable keep.