Compact is transformed into creative with rooms, like bento boxes, prioritising intelligent design over raw square footage in clearly defined sections. My 57-square-metre suite feels spacious (though even the 25-square-metre studios avoid the discomforting hotel-squeezy feeling of so many Japanese city hotels). From my sofa, there’s a glimpse of Osaka Castle – perhaps the city’s main cultural attraction – through soundproofed windows. A muted, earthy palette is enlivened by furnishings that nod to mid-century industrial chic while maintaining a distinctly Japanese aesthetic. Shigaraki-yaki bedside tables are crafted in the kilns of Shiga (a prefecture renowned for its pottery). Contemporary artworks complete the picture, while bathrooms offer the ultimate sanctuary, a deep-soaking bathtub, with size-perfect cotton pyjamas to follow.
AloJapan.com