GAME CHANGERS “I WANT TO INSPIRE WOMEN TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF THEMSELVES.” VICTORIA BECKHAM & OTHER EXTRAORDINARY LEADERS TALK TO VOGUE ABOUT BEING EMPOWERED & MAKING A DIFFERENCE vogueVOYAGE Land of the rising late Amanemu, Aman’s first hot spring resort, is an ode to Japan’s traditional ryokan – with a luxurious and languorous twist. By Mark Sariban. White oak furniture and light timber interiors exude an elegant simplicity in a villa at Amanemu, in Japan’s Mie prefecture. VOGUE.COM.AU 245 VOGUE VOYAGE At the Kumano MADE IN JAPAN Nachi Taisha The new generation of Japanese grand shrine. designers to seek out when in Tokyo. A torii gate at the grand shrine of Kumano Hayatama Taisha. A vegetarian feast for guests at the Fudo-in Buddhist temple in Koyasan. TOGA A forward-facing, rich The design of Amanemu mix of ready-to-wear references and updates and cult footwear the traditional Japanese from Yasuko Furuta. farmhouse style. Right: onsen (hot spring) water A Mori suite UNDERCOVER feeds the deep bathtubs overlooking the in each suite and villa. surrounding woods. Jun Takahashi Take a hike reimagines traditional garments, splicing While Tokyo epitomises hyper-modern them in inventive, and culture, there’s another side to Japan compelling, hybrids. out in the rugged countryside. The mountains of Wakayama prefecture, a couple of hours’ drive from Osaka, are riddled with stone paths through heavily wooded forests that connect three grand LIMI FEU shrines pilgrims once trekked to from Nara, the ancient Yohji Yamamoto’s The spa complex capital. British-born long-time resident Paul Christie’s Walk daughter Limi Feu has has its own onsen inherited his design and fireside Japan (www.walkjapan.com) conducts nine-day guided walks lounge. Left: the along this UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kumano Kodo dexterity in wearable, lobby of the resort. pilgrimage route. Only have a day or two? Head to the overblown tailoring. sacred town of Koyasan, home to dozens of Buddhist temples here are four day beds in my suite at Amanemu – two dark Whichever way you get there, on arrival you’ll be greeted at an and Shinto shrines, and spend a memorable night in temple wood platforms swathed in black fabric outside on a open-air pavilion looking out over Ago Bay for an introduction to lodgings, otherwise known as shukubo, where robed monks will PARK HOTEL wooden deck, and two inside the main living quarters, the property over refreshments, before you’re driven to your suite greet you with a bow and a smile before showing you to your TOKYO T either side of a king-sized bed. You’d think four day beds in a buggy. Amanemu is spread out to the extent you’ll find traditional straw-mat room. Go to eng.shukubo.net for details. The Park Hotel Tokyo in would be overkill, but in the course of a few days at this secluded yourself hitching a ride in a buggy when you spot one, especially if Shimbashi, next to Ginza, hot spring retreat I manage to spend a great deal of you’ve booked a treatment in the resort’s spa and Koyasan’s Kongobu-ji invites selected artists time on each of them. There’s the inside day bed try to walk there in the yukata (a traditional unisex temple, home to the largest to “express the beauty facing a screened garden – perfect for post- BEING AN kimono-like casual garment) and stiff sandals stone garden in Japan. Left: of Japan” on the walls the Daimon-zaka pilgrim’s breakfast planning sessions poring over maps. The AMAN provided in your room. trail in Wakayama prefecture. of its rooms. Book an other interior day bed faces the deck, with its A one-hour body treatment at the very Zen spa Artist Room to sleep sweeping views of Ago Bay, a sheltered body of RESORT, complex set well away from the main buildings surrounded by striking water dotted with pearl-farming rafts. I spend one THE starts with a foot soak and massage, an echo of artwork. Go to en. MINO morning watching a rainy-season downpour, the the traditional practice of innkeepers caring for parkhoteltokyo.com. SARIBAN EMPHASIS view of the bay disappearing behind banks of mist, guests footsore from their travels. I choose one HYOGO MARK APOLLO IS ON being lulled into a pleasant torpor by the heavy of the four Aman oil blends dabbed on my hand BY drops of water cascading off the gutterless tiled and settle in for a surprisingly vigorous massage GINZA EFFORTLESS Chef Jonathan ROOM IMAGES roof onto the strip of black stones that surrounds from a tiny Japanese masseuse as I gaze out onto Barthelmess has the building. (The guest suites and communal LUXURY a fenced garden dotted with large black rocks that GETTY introduced Japan areas were designed by Kerry Hill Architects, the seemingly emerge from the lush grass. After a to modern Greek CAT” ARTISTCAT” BIRRELL Australian-based firm behind Aman Tokyo, as a contemporary massage I’m invited to dip into the onsen (hot spring) at the spa, fare with an outpost interpretation of the country’s low-slung minka homes.) but I opt to head back to my room and fill my deep charcoal- HIT TOKYO RUNNING Qantas offers daily FERGUSON of Sydney’s Apollo Amanemu, which opened in March this year, is approximately coloured basalt bath with onsen water for a more leisurely soak. direct flights to Tokyo from Brisbane, Sydney restaurant in 300 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. Extravagantly wealthy guests The resort is set within Ise Shima National Park, with little in the and, from December 16, Melbourne. The overnight Tokyo’s famed WORDS: ALICE TOKYO “LUCKY apparently travel from the capital by taxi, but you can also take vicinity other than a golf club and an exclusive housing estate, but flight* from Sydney lands at Haneda airport in the Ginza district. the shinkansen bullet train to Nagoya and hop on the express excursions can be arranged to the nearby Ise grand shrine and one HOTEL heart of Tokyo at 5.30am, so you can make the most 11th floor, Tokyu service down to the last station on the line, where you’ll be met by section of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail (see opposite page). of your first day in the city. Go to www.qantas.com. Plaza Ginza. a member of staff for the 10-minute drive to the resort. For details, go to www.aman.com/resorts/amanemu. PHOTOGRAPHS: TOM PARK ADDITIONAL 246 NOVEMBER 2016 VOGUE.COM.AU 247.