20/10/2026
Part two of our Japan series: three nights, three beds, three very different ideas of how to live.
Night one: a 1923 bank in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Kabutocho, with barely an internal wall left standing. At K5, Claesson Koivisto Rune built their 2020 conversion around aimai, a Japanese word that welcomes ambiguity. Plants, textiles and furniture do the job that walls usually do, and the library is also the bar.
Night two: a centuries-old ryokan in Takayama, where nothing moves. The tatami, the shoji and a deep timber bath sit exactly where they were placed long ago.
Night three: Hakone, where the same tradition is rebuilt for now. Twenty-six rooms, a stripped-back building, and the view.
Clients often ask us about open plan. After Japan, we think there’s a better question: what do you want a room to be doing when you’re not looking at it?
