Japanese cultural encounter: Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo offers kimono rentals

TOKYO - Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, Japanese hospitality company Fujita Kanko’s iconic five-star flagship property, announced an unusual new service for guests: traditional kimono rentals and fittings.

Japan’s traditional garment for over 1,000 years, the kimono represents Japanese culture and spirit. Some Japanese still wear kimono daily, but many wear it only for special occasions and traditional activities such as weddings, tea ceremonies and Kabuki theater-going. “Wearing kimono gives you a special feeling,” says Koichi Urashima, General Manager of Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo.

“However, it hasn’t been easy for overseas visitors to enjoy this experience. The kimono is ‘wearable art,’ and expensive. It’s also complicated to put on. We are very excited that we’ve finally found a way to offer this quintessentially Japanese experience to our international guests, both ladies and gentlemen. Our renowned Japanese botanical garden is the perfect backdrop for wearing kimono.”

To launch the service, the hotel is partnering with Hakubi Kyoto Kimono Institute, an establishment that teaches people how to dress in kimono. A kimono expert from the Institute will visit a guest’s room and help with putting on the kimono, between 9:00 am and 8:00 pm on weekdays. The kimono can be returned the next morning, so guests can enjoy a dinner or other outing dressed in kimono. Guests are required to make an appointment a week in advance.

The hotel also offers other options, such as a tea ceremony experience in kimono at the hotel’s authentic teahouse, a registered national asset, at an additional cost.

Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, re-flagged in 2013 after 20 years as Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so, is known for its historic heritage and its lush, majestic garden with numerous botanical species, birds and insects, an oasis in the middle of Tokyo.

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