Tokyo is set to gain a new destination inspired by California’s Napa Valley wine region, thanks to a new collaboration between Japanese hospitality firm Not a Hotel, music producer and all-around tastemaker Pharrell Williams, and fashion designer NIGO.
When complete, the upcoming Yurakucho Park commercial district will offer 10,000m2 of art, retail, and hospitality space showcasing Japanese culture and traditions such as sake brewing. The concept “honors the country’s intricate cuisine and artisanal craftmanship,” Not a Hotel says.
The so-called “Japa Valley” will be created on the site of the demolished Shin-Yurakucho and Yurakucho Buildings and is meant to be temporary. Not a Hotel claims it presents “a new approach to urban development that will inform future construction of new buildings and neighbourhood development by surprising and entertaining visitors.”
The area already boasts shopping, dining, and entertainment options, and benefits from its proximity to the Marunouchi business district and the Imperial Palace East Gardens, as well as exclusive residential neighbourhoods in Hibiya, with properties that are bound to be of interest to Not a Hotel. Launched in 2020, the group specialises, according to its website, in co-owned, hotel-like “one-of-a-kind vacation homes around the globe that allow owners to make new discoveries and find more enjoyment in their day-to-day.”
Intended to be “a district where culture and commerce intersect,” the project, Williams says, allows him and NIGO the chance to express their shared design language centered in heart, creativity with meaning.” He explains that “Japa Valley is us bringing that language to life, turning it into space and shape for everyone to experience.”
Initial renderings show seating areas under a series of arched wooden and glass structures, woven with pathways and greenery, dominated by a large-scale, organic-form sculpture by New-York artist Kaws. While Napa Valley, northeast of San Francisco, invites visitors to tour vineyards and sample and purchase wine, in the Tokyo namesake, guests will be able to pop into sake breweries instead of wineries.
Set to open in 2027, the Japa Valley project is only part of Williams and NIGO’s remit as newly appointed creative advisors to Not a Hotel. The group’s CEO Shinji Hamauzu has hailed the pair as “true cultural visionaries” who will help “take NOT A HOTEL to the next level and further extend the unique charms of Japanese hospitality and design culture to the rest of the world.”
In the same statement, plans were announced to start “globally expanding the innovative business model we have cultivated in Japan.” Since its founding in 2020, Not a Hotel had by February 2025 reached a cumulative contract value of ¥37.6 billion from 748 owners.
