A Serene, Slow-living Sanctuary a Slight Skip from the City Center

Tokyo’s western fringe remains one of the city’s most overlooked and underrated draws for international tourists. Expansive, verdant, tranquil neighborhoods with relatively light development – at least compared to the megacities of the urban core – remain easily accessible in a mere hour by train from Tokyo station. This is the best of both worlds: the Tokyo to stay in for anyone who wants to remain within easy striking distance of the nightlife and shopping hubs of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Shimokitazawa, while also having a ready home base for day treks into Japan’s famously beautiful natural environs.

Nature and Wide-open Spaces with Tokyo Trappings Intact

Western Tokyo offers a quieter, more contemplative side of the capital metropolis, where residential streets give way to wooded hills, flowing rivers, and longstanding rural communities. A mere hour by train from Tokyo station, the area has long been cherished by those seeking wider spaces, slower paces, and local seasonal inspiration without completely abandoning the comfort and amenities of the big city. Nestled within this environment, Auberge TOKITO reflects the character of its surroundings: serene and thoughtful, private and artisanal, rooted in the natural and cultural texture of the land. And true to Tokyo form, the auberge is a mere one-minute walk from the nearest train station.

A Stay with a Sense of Place

Introducing Auberge TOKITO

Auberge TOKITO opened in April of 2023 in the west Tokyo city of Tachikawa, modeled on the boutique auberge inns of the French-speaking world, and quickly caught the attention of foodies and culture aficionados across the globe. The enchantingly rustic and tranquil garden that greets visitors inside its gates feels a world apart from the gargantuan Tokyo metropolis, and the facility’s roughly 3,700 square meters house guest rooms, a restaurant, and a tearoom. Its elegant Japanese atmosphere and intimate personal touch has enchanted both domestic and international visitors.

Gastronomic Journeys in Rustic Repose

“Artisanal cuisine” is the foundational concept of Auberge TOKITO: experts in their crafts coming together to forge an extraordinary ephemeral experience. Producer Yoshinori Ishii’s culinary resume includes serving as the resident chef at United Nations ambassadorial residences in Geneva and New York – as well as helming London-based UMU, the first Japanese restaurant to receive two Michelin stars in all of Europe. In addition to the rustic tranquility of an auberge stay in Tokyo’s western reaches, this plan includes a breakfast and dinner of peak seasonal delights served in countertop intimacy by the chef himself.*

*Depending on existing reservation status, one or both meal reservations may be provided at a dining room table rather than the countertop.

Pre-Selected Rooms

Auberge TOKITO is a true boutique luxury accommodation, hosting a maximum of four groups per night. Its four private 106-square-meter shukubo (temple lodging) style suites offer the ultimate in restorative relaxation, equipped with spacious living rooms, bedrooms, kitchenettes, spa treatment beds, bathrooms, and free-flowing open-air onsen baths with natural springwater pumped from over a kilometer below ground.

With modern traditional designs incorporating earthen walls, shoji screens, and all-natural bedding including metal-free wood spring construction and breathable horsehair pillows, TOKITO marries the traditional sumptuous delights of the traditional onsen stay experience to the bespoke private luxury of a true auberge. Audiophile quality record player systems with a selection of over 50 albums of vinyl offer an unique, unforgettable touch of cozy joy.

Moments at the Table

Cherishing the Seasons and Local Freshness and Tradition with Global Inspiration

Auberge TOKITO is the brainchild of a prodigious, globetrotting, Michelin-starred culinary talent. Though its many charms as a rustic near-flung urban escape and comforting private onsen sanctuary are themselves enough to get lost within, these amenities are actually arranged with a singularity of vision to form a stunning backdrop for the centerpiece of the stay: the . After breaking through as sous chef at Kyoto’s famous Ryotei traditional fine dining club Kitcho Arashiyama Honten, he worked as a chef in United Nations ambassadorial residences in Geneva and New York before helming kaiseki restaurant UMU in London – taking that restaurant to its second Michelin star win. Amidst the fertile perspectives this global experience yielded him, the germ of Auberge TOKITO took root – a desire for a place to truly articulate the richness of Japanese cuisine.

The dining room of Auberge TOKITO offers both table and counter seating – the latter of which is prioritized in this plan and provides an unobstructed intimate view of the chef’s delicate work. Craftsmanship and passion abound at every link in the chain of growers, fishers, hunters, cutlery makers, and tableware potters that Ishii has cultivated into a unified team arranged around the singular goal of delighting guests, one dish at a time. Savor the fruit of Ishii’s hard work to make this vision a reality through signature seasonal courses in dinner and breakfast alike.

Seasonality is indeed a cornerstone of the auberge menu – such as the course on one late-winter’s day combining winter crab and spring vegetables, enhanced with winter kumquat, to encapsulate and celebrate the ephemeral passing of winter to spring on a single plate. The dish is served in a vessel ornamented with a rope motif, hand-made by the chef himself. Ishii hopes to harken back to Japan’s prehistoric Jomon era and invite diners to experience these ingredients as if for the first time, without preconceptions getting in the way.

The next dish on this day features spring fish and shellfish from the island of Niigata Prefecture’s Sado Island alongside spring vegetables in a fish bone stock – showcasing the chef’s commitment to wasting nothing. Japan is an archipelagic nation, so island ingredients are commonplace. Delight not only in the food and tableware, but the stories behind them.

Tradition and Culinary Vision Harmonized in a Delicious, Nutritious Breakfast

At breakfast time, guests can start their day with a nutritious spread of seasonal goodness, such as porridge of Chinese silk chicken and ancient-style rice, including the ancient “forbidden” black rice of royalty. An assortment of flavorful and aromatic condiments and veggies hand-pickled in house allow morning diners to shift the meal’s palate to one more Western or traditionally Japanese as they like. Among these condiments, Chef Ishii also offers guests the chance to delight in “so,” a traditional dairy product with ancient historical roots in Japan that is similar to a light cheese or clotted cream. Savor delicious history, nourishing tradition, and cutting-edge culinary vision in every bite.

Deepen Your Connection to the Region

Holistic Immersion, Soothing, and Inspiration in the Auberge Terroir

The auberge – along with its garden, kitchen, ceramics studio, and shukubo-style suites with private rotenburo open-air onsen baths – are emblematic of the charms of Tokyo’s western neighborhoods: nature, artisanry, and deep culture that together deeply reflect Japan’s iconic blend of tradition and innovation, a love for the natural and a proclivity for comfort and convenience. Local markets provide seasonal ingredients that inspire the auberge’s kitchen, while nearby mountains, riverfronts, forests, and parks offer guests refreshing green spaces to explore at leisure.

Optional Add-on: Throw One-of-a-kind Ceramic Tableware Available Nowhere Else

Not content simply to rest on his Michelin-starred laurels, Ishii is also an accomplished ceramics artist, and while you may find the occasional piece made by a select number of other skilled potters at Auberge TOKITO, the vast majority of the tableware is actually Ishii’s own work. As an optional add-on (additional charges apply), guests in this plan can enjoy a Wabunka-exclusive experience throwing a small turmeric piece under his masterful guidance, to be glazed and fired and shipped at a later date.

“Tableware is the dress food wears,” is a quote Ishii’s mentor was fond of repeating during his days of training as a young cook. For Ishii, this means that it is just as essential to pay meticulous care to tableware as to the food itself – as such, he not only curates his tableware selection but makes most of it himself by hand.

Having extensively traveled in the name of ceramics research, Ishii also knows that local soils play a key role in defining the unique properties of each regional kind of pottery, so he mixes earthen clay from the grounds of the auberge itself into his works. Moreover, he recycles his cooking charcoal and ash from used-up chopsticks into the pieces as well rather than throwing them out. In this Wabunka plan, you can fashion one-of-a-kind ceramic vessels using unique local clay and Ishii’s original glazes in his private pottery studio.

This optional add-on is followed by a special Wabunka-exclusive six-course lunch crafted especially by Chef Ishii to follow the pottery-throwing experience.

Relax and Savor the Rich Depth of True Japanese Luxury

Take a step away from the big city hubbub and luxuriate in the tranquility of soaking in a private open-air onsen bath, walking in a lush traditional garden, kneading soft clay in your hands, and tasting seasonal ingredients sourced from all over Japan.

Amidst all the sumptuous joys, master chef and experienced international culinary ambassador Ishii and his seasoned staff are on hand to explain everything, giving enriching context so that even guests with no foreknowledge of Japanese culture can get the most from the experience. Just relax and take in the prolific scope of Japanese cuisine at its finest through all five senses.