Palace Hotel Tokyo Celebrates Japan’s New Year Traditions
Tea ceremonies and kendama, soba noodles and shishi-mai, music, magic and games round out festive pursuits
TOKYO (24 September 2013) – Across the moat from Japan’s tranquil Imperial Palace gardens,
the city's most lauded, new luxury hotel is abuzz with preparations for a New Year celebration
that’s equal parts tradition, sophistication and fun.
As Japan marks one of its most symbolic and meaningful holidays, Palace Hotel Tokyo hopes toimmerse travellers in one of the world’s most refined cultures by synthesizing time-honouredceremonies, renowned arts and distinctive experiences under one roof in the heart of the capital.
Essential culinary customs and their origins - such as eating toshikoshi soba noodles and feasting onosechi-ryori (foods specially prepared for the holiday) - will be presented by the hotel’s expert
Japanese chefs, while a skilled iwai-gumi will be on hand to demonstrate the tradition of mochimaking.
Travellers staying in the hotel will also have the opportunity to observe and participate in
hatsugama, the first tea ceremony of the new year and a ritual that is, perhaps, the most emblematic
expression of Japanese hospitality.
With more than half of its rooms featuring open balconies and terraces, the hotel offers an ideal
vantage point from which to contemplate views of Tokyo’s lush Imperial Palace gardens andobserve the crowds that gather to cheer the annual appearance of Japan’s Imperial family on 2January.
Throughout the three-day period between 31 December and 2 January known as oshogatsu,
traditionally dressed musicians in the hotel lobby will strum holiday tunes on the koto, a classic
Japanese instrument that dates back to the 8th century.
A New Year’s Day dinner concert will feature a special performance on the 20-string koto by theacclaimed Gayo Nakagaki, followed by music from a philharmonic orchestra with operaticaccompaniment.
To enliven the holiday season, the hotel has also invited Japan’s top magician Kyoko, and juggling
masters the Kikyo Brothers to provide world-class entertainment together with Yusuke Ito, anationwide champion and holder of two Guinness World Records, who will display his
extraordinary skills with the kendama.
The hotel’s function spaces will also be transformed into games rooms with table tennis, darts andigo chess matches, and shishi-mai lion dancers will shimmy and strike before audiences on 2 January.
Guests in residence over the holiday as well as those just visiting for the day can ring in 2014 instyle at the hotel’s New Year Countdown Cocktail Party, kicking off with live jazz at The Palace
Lounge on the evening of the 31st. On 1 & 2 January, a series of sumptuous international buffets
will be laid out for breakfast and lunch in the Aoi ballroom overlooking the Imperial moats andgardens.

ABOUT PALACE HOTEL TOKYO
Opened in May 2012, Palace Hotel Tokyo commands some of the city’s most exclusive real estateand stands as heir to a legacy going back more than half a century as one of the city’s most iconichotels.
As the anchor to a USD 1.2 billion mixed-use development - built entirely from the ground-up the hotel features 290 rooms & suites, 10 restaurants & bars, an evian SPA and incomparable
views of the city’s most rarified green space - the Imperial Palace gardens.
Drawing deeply from the country’s history, culture and art, the much talked-about new addition to
Tokyo’s hotel scene has redefined luxury in Japan with grace, elegance and authenticity.
Located at 1-1-1 Marunouchi, the hotel is a 10-minute walk from landmark Tokyo Station andmere steps away from Marunouchi Naka Dori, one of Tokyo’s most upscale shopping and dining
destinations.
For more information, please visit www.en.palacehoteltokyo.com or contact:
Japan
Palace Hotel Tokyo
press@palacehotel.jp
Southeast Asia & Hong Kong
Balcony Media GroupJim Sullivan
jsullivan@balconymediagroup.com
All other regions
Berkati Marketing Communications
Tiana Kartadinata
tkartadinata@berkati.com

USA
JG Black Book PR
Erin McKeon
erin@jgblackbook.com
United Kingdom
Mason Rose
Public Relations
pr@masonrose.com