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From October 17, 2025, Park Hotel Tokyo will proudly participate in the TOKYO BIENNALE 2025 – the international art festival held every two years – as a supporting partner.
As a hotel that embodies the spirit of art and Japanese aesthetics, we invited our Brand Manager, Yoshitomo Fujikawa, to share his perspective on what it means for a hotel to engage with art and the unique role that only a hotel can play in connecting people and culture.
Q. Why did Park Hotel Tokyo decide to sponsor the TOKYO BIENNALE 2025, and what aspects of the festival resonated with you as a hotel?
A. Park Hotel Tokyo defines itself as an art hotel, offering guests a time and space where the essence of Japanese aesthetics can be fully experienced. Our mission goes beyond providing a place to stay; we want every guest to encounter Japanese culture in meaningful ways and to leave with moments that spark inspiration. The TOKYO BIENNALE, as a festival created together with citizens and rooted in the city, shares this philosophy. The 2025 theme, “Shall we take a walk together?” invites people to wander through the city, meet others, and discover unexpected perspectives, all through a lens that is deeply poetic and human. This vision mirrors our own belief in travel as a journey of encounters, which is why we felt a strong sense of affinity and chose to sponsor the Biennale.
Q. How does this sponsorship connect with the hotel’s long-standing relationship with art?
A. Art has always been an inseparable part of Park Hotel Tokyo’s identity. More than 400 works are permanently displayed across our property, complemented by exhibitions that evolve throughout the year. Above all, our Artist Rooms – guest rooms entirely conceived and painted by individual artists – immerse visitors in an experience where art becomes part of daily life. These initiatives transform art from something that is simply observed into something that is lived with. The TOKYO BIENNALE’s vision of “art living with the city” is directly aligned with this philosophy, and our sponsorship is a natural extension of what we have nurtured within the hotel, expanding it outward into the urban landscape.
Q. Unlike galleries, hotels welcome international guests year-round. How do you view the unique role of a hotel in connecting people with art?
A. Because we are a hotel rather than a gallery, art can be encountered here as part of ordinary life. Guests from around the world come across artworks during their stay without deliberate intention, and those chance encounters often lead to curiosity about the artists themselves. Many guests continue following the careers of artists they first discovered here, long after returning to their home countries. In this sense, the hotel functions as a bridge that connects local art with a global audience, much like the BIENNALE connects art to the city. By allowing people to meet art in the midst of travel, we fulfill a role that is uniquely possible in a hotel setting, creating a quiet yet powerful form of cultural exchange that crosses borders.
Q. What significance do you see in artists’ names and works spreading internationally through the hotel environment?
A. The artworks displayed in our hotel often spark encounters that transcend language and nationality. Unlike galleries, where visitors make a conscious choice to see art, in a hotel art exists naturally within the flow of life and is experienced in a more organic way. These experiences sometimes result in previously unknown artists gaining recognition abroad or even forming connections with collectors overseas. In this way, the hotel becomes a platform that can expand an artist’s reach far beyond Japan. A single artwork discovered here may travel the world in the memory of a guest, carrying the artist’s story with it. That ability to set art on a journey is a privilege unique to the hotel setting.
Q. Looking ahead, how does Park Hotel Tokyo plan to expand its role in sharing Japanese culture through art?
A. We aspire to continue being a place where sensibilities cross cultures and where art serves as a bridge between people from all over the world. As a hotel that introduces Japanese culture through art, we will keep collaborating with international art events and artists, taking on the dual role of preserving tradition while fostering innovation. Guests who experience art during their stay often carry those impressions back home, share them with others, and keep them alive. We see ourselves as the starting point for those journeys, where a single encounter with art can ripple outward into the wider world. Through our partnership with the TOKYO BIENNALE, we hope to open more doors for Japanese art to reach global audiences and to further strengthen our role as a hub for cultural exchange.
