TOKYO RIGHT NOW

As impossible to pigeonhole as ever, the Japanese capital is buzzing with fresh influences and new ideas

-  ASHLEY OGAWA CLARKE, DANIELLE DEMETRIOU, AND MELINDA JOE

Tokyo remains a metropolis of multitudes: a hedonistic labyrinth of eight-seat sushi bars, worshipful cocktail joints, and kissa listening rooms behind unmarked doors; of raucous, sidewalk-spilling izakayas and contrasting hotels in serene skyscraper bubbles with omotenashi hospitality. Still defined as much by the hum of pachinko balls and dance machines as the silence of the Senso-ji temple, this is at once a city of cherry blossoms, rain-filtered neon, Studio Ghibli, rockabilly dancers, and ungendered Shibuya fashionistas, simultaneously wild and precise. But like all great cities, the largest and sometimes most bewildering of them all defies easy categorisation. And the trend in the past few years has been away from the more obvious markers of "Tokyo-ness". A recent hotel boom has been less about Lost in Translation skyscraper seclusion, and more about connected community and Scandinavianinfluenced design: around the rooftop pool of the Trunk (Hotel) Yoyogi Park or at its buzzy pizza parlour; or the Janu Tokyo in the hyped Thomas Heatherwick-designed Azabudai Hills development, which has plans for a great forested pergola-part of a wider trend for slower, greener communities. The food scene has also been welcoming international energy and new ideas: at farm-to-table Narisawa, with its subtle French influences; or Censu, a modern izakaya where everyone orders the Hainan chicken paella. There's boldness at spots like the boisterous Tokyo Confidential, whose cofounder and head bartender, Holly Graham and Waka Murata, are shaking up a maledominated drinks scene. Tokyo's mix is spicier than ever, and this is our local experts' guide to the very best of it.

THE NEW STAYS TRUNK (HOTEL) YOYOGI PARK