Celebrating Rosewood’s debut hotel in Japan, the luxury hotel group staged a glamorous dinner and party in Tokyo Tower, attended by Mariko Mori, Yoon Ahn and more
On 18 March 2025, Rosewood Hotel Group threw a glamorous event in Tokyo to celebrate their first-ever property in Japan, Rosewood Miyakojima. Held in Tokyo Tower, an iconic landmark inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Rosewood Front Row Tokyo saw guests from across the fields of fashion, art, architecture, and music come together for an evening of culinary and cultural excellence, music, and partying.
Taking inspiration from the natural beauty and rich flavours of Okinawa – the cluster of islands where Rosewood’s new Miyako hotel is located – leading chef Natsuko Shoji (of French-inspired restaurant Été) created a four-course dinner featuring fresh sea bream, Miyako beef, and a mango and brown sugar tart. Meanwhile, guests were treated to a musical performance from British jazz artist – and Rosewood’s resident musician at Café Carlyle – Reuben James. With floral tablescapes and colourful, immersive visual projections from renowned creative agency HATO, the evening had a surreal feel, operating under the theme ‘senses in motion’.
The celebration continued with an exclusive afterparty featuring a DJ set by Antonin Courant and curated beverages by Norihiro Tacamizuma, creative director of twelv., Tokyo’s cult sake bar. Guests included actor Rinko Kikuchi, photographer and director Mika Ninagawa, architect Junya Ishigami, fashion designer Yoon Ahn, musician Verbal, Kabuki actor Sennosuke Kataoka, Dutch designer Piet Boon, musician Crystal Kay, and artist Mariko Mori.
A cult Japanese multidisciplinary artist whose work explores universal questions at the intersection of life, death, reality, and technology, Mariko Mori has a unique connection with Miyako, the location of Rosewood’s latest hotel. The artist, who first fell under the remote island’s spell in 2007 after visiting Ogami Island’s sacred sites – known as ‘utaki’ – was inspired to begin creating her own work on the island. “The land and sea of Miyakojima quietly taught me the unity of nature and humanity, as well as the preciousness of life’s radiance,” says the artist over email. “Inspired by this profound realisation, I was driven by a desire to create a monument that would express gratitude toward nature.” The result is Sun Pillar (2011), an outdoor sculpture comprising a translucent column set atop a rock promontory.
Attending the Rosewood Front Row Tokyo in an elegant silky white ensemble – Mori wears white at all times to keep her focus on the “radiance of inner light” – the artist cemented her relationship with Miyako further in 2016, when she built a coral-shaped, futuristic house, called Yuputira, on the island. Designed as a personal studio and unique space for contemplation, the form of the house was inspired by white coral found on the shores of Miyako, and just like the outfits Mori wears in her daily life, Yuputira is all-white, inside and out. “When I first encountered the corals of Yabiji, their overwhelming beauty took my breath away,” Mori continues. “Yet, at the same time, I felt as though the corals were like mirrors, reflecting the beauty of all living things. In other words, I came to realise the truth that humans, too, are part of nature, and their very existence is inherently beautiful.”
Find out more about Rosewood Miyakojima here.
