For thirty years, Soho House has operated on a simple premise: give creative people a beautiful place to be together. Founded in London’s Soho neighborhood in 1995 by Nick Jones, the members’ club began as a single townhouse and has since grown into a global network of more than 50 locations around the world, including New York, Bangkok, and Mumbai.
Travel by LA Times Studios
From quick escapes to dream adventures, we’ll share top destinations, tips, and experiences to inspire your next trip.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
The formula — moody interiors, an art-forward sensibility, a mix of restaurant, bar, pool and workspace under one roof — has traveled well. And yet Tokyo, the city perhaps most associated with its own distinct and fiercely evolved aesthetic culture, might be the most interesting place the brand has ever chosen to plant a flag.
Soho House Tokyo opened this year in Aoyama, one of the Japanese capital’s most design-conscious neighborhoods, a short walk from the boutique-lined boulevard of Omotesando. At 75,000 square feet spread across two club floors, a rooftop pool and terrace, a wellness studio, and 42 hotel-style bedrooms, it is a substantial House. But what truly distinguishes the Tokyo outpost is the degree to which the building has been asked to hold two design cultures at once, and the seriousness with which that conversation has been conducted.
(Courtesy Soho House Tokyo)
Tea as a the Starting Point
It would be easy, and a little lazy, to describe Soho House Tokyo as a blend of East and West. What’s interesting is how specific the choices are to make that reality. Take tea. The bedroom color palette takes the name Bancha from a variety of Japanese green tea made from older leaves, a color that sits somewhere between olive and sage. The wellness studio menu features sencha and matcha alongside turmeric shots. The Cabaret Room is draped in matcha-green silk Moire wallpaper. A signature cocktail weaves in green shiso and cherry blossom.
“In Japan, tea is far more than just a beverage — it is the very foundation of hospitality, creating moments of pause and connection in everyday life,” says General Manager Yuji Okada. “By weaving the warm tones of bancha and the deep greens of matcha into the space, we wanted members to feel a sense of ease and belonging the moment they step inside the House.”
Craft That’s Woven into the Walls
The 42 bedrooms are among the most carefully considered spaces in the building. Soft furnishings are made from upcycled vintage kimono fabric and sakiori weaving — a centuries-old Japanese textile technique that involves reweaving strips of old cloth into new material. The parquet flooring echoes a tatami pattern, bedside tables carry Japanese lacquer from Kyoto craftsman Makino Urushi, and mirror frames are finished in Kara-nuri, a decorative lacquer technique. Bathroom tiles come from Nagoya. Along the corridors, walls are lined with custom washi paper in Japanese denim indigo blue.
The East-West Kitchen
On the 13th floor, an open sushi counter serves lunch and dinner under the direction of head sushi chef Kunihiro Shinohara, whose focus is Edomae-style sushi — a Tokyo tradition that predates modern omakase culture and is rooted in the preserved and cured fish of the bay.
Elsewhere on the menu, the interplay of the culinary influences is playful. The House Brasserie serves British dishes reworked with Japanese ingredients. A Sticky Toffee Pudding arrives taiyaki-style, shaped like the fish-shaped sweet cake sold at street stalls across Japan. A Prawn Scotch Egg comes “okonomiyaki style.” Fatty Tuna Brioche is dressed with fruit tomato and English mustard. Unzen Pork Sausage Rolls are paired with black garlic HP sauce.
Okada previously led the Japanese launch of Dominique Ansel’s bakery — the Paris operation responsible for the Cronut — and is well acquainted with the risks of culinary East-West crossover. “I learned firsthand the delicate art of culinary crossover,” he says. “We shouldn’t try to invent a completely new menu. Instead, we looked for a natural chemistry by marrying distinct, beloved classics that are deeply familiar to Tokyo and the UK. The result is a menu that feels inherently collaborative — dishes that both local and global members can enjoy and share together around the table.”
Spaces That Navigate Between Two Worlds
Moving floor by floor, the interiors lay out the design logic. The 13th-floor Club Lounge is finished in deep burgundy red, a color pulled from traditional Japanese lacquer, set against British-style wood paneling. The ceiling takes its geometry from tatami mat patterns, with tatami trims used as border details. The bar at the front of the room is finished to resemble traditional Japanese roof tiles. Italian Murano lights hang alongside Japanese washi lanterns. Vintage furniture sourced from the UK, Europe, and Japan sits together in the same room.
The reception desk on the ground floor is handcrafted from lacquer panels by Makino Urushi in Kyoto. The lighting above it was custom-made in Osaka. The walls are covered in handmade washi paper by KAMISM. The Cabaret Room — used for live performances, screenings, and private events — has a bespoke carpet whose pattern is a deconstructed version of the Japanese character that means “home.” The same motif appears on bedroom headboards and seating upholstery throughout the House.
The large rooftop pool looks out over the Tokyo skyline with incredible views. “Framed by views toward Roppongi, featuring Tokyo Tower and Mount Fuji, we’ve created what we hope is one of Tokyo’s most captivating rooftop pools,” Okada says. It’s lined with custom indigo blue and white tiles made by Taijimi craftspeople in Gifu Prefecture, and the daybed textiles are patterned after vintage kimono geometries: Asanoha (hemp leaf) and Tatewaku (rising steam). Two Tsuge trees, a traditional Japanese garden species, frame the space.
An Art Collection Built in Japan
The art program also demonstrates the House’s commitment to local engagement. The collection brings together more than 40 artists born, based, or trained in Japan, alongside members of the Japanese diaspora, spanning generations and media. About a third of the works are new commissions created specifically for the building.
The collection also features work by two of Japan’s most internationally recognized artists. Yuko Mohri’s “Bride (Contingency)” draws on Marcel Duchamp’s “The Large Glass,” reinterpreting its logic of chance and mechanical desire through a contemporary lens. Ryoji Ikeda’s “data.scape [universe]” — the largest wall-based new media installation in the collection — challenges perception of space and time.
Programming a Local House
The physical spaces are designed to last, but what will determine whether Soho House Tokyo actually takes root as a local institution is the programming, the rituals and the recurring events that make members feel they couldn’t find this anywhere else.
“We host a curated lineup of distinctly Japanese experiences that even locals rarely encounter, from exclusive sushi masterclasses to private geisha performances, designed to bring together our local and global community,” Okada says. Authentic Japanese breakfasts are served in the House, familiar to local members and a genuine introduction for international guests. The music program includes live sets from internationally acclaimed Japanese DJs working at the club’s custom-made DJ booth.
What Okada says he’s after is a kind of productive double vision — spaces and programming that feel “distinctively Japanese to our global members, yet effortlessly global to our local members.”
Staff uniforms are designed by Onitsuka Tiger, the Kobe-based sportswear brand, in a collaboration drawn from the label’s DENIVITA Japanese denim series. It’s one more (literal) thread tying the House to Japanese craft traditions rather than simply borrowing from them.
Soho House’s Mentorship program, which has supported more than 2,000 young creatives globally since 2018, will launch in Tokyo in September 2026 in partnership with OWN Academy, pairing members with emerging creatives from underrepresented backgrounds in the city.
A Soho House That Earns Its Address
Aoyama is not an accidental choice of neighborhood. It’s a district shaped by Japanese fashion, architecture, and design — the kind of place where aesthetic standards are taken seriously. The bancha color warming every bedroom wall, the Gifu-made tiles lining the pool, the washi paper pulled across corridor walls, the kimono fabric rewoven into cushions are all choices made in close conversation with Japanese makers, traditions, and ways of seeing.
Whatever city Soho House lands in, Okada says, the underlying ambition stays constant. “Every one of our 50 global Houses is unique, yet shares the same feeling of being Home away from Home for our members to spend time in from morning, noon and night.”
Soho House Tokyo is located at 3 Chome-8-35 Minamiaoyama, Minato City, Tokyo. Members can book one of the 42 bedrooms directly through the House.