View down the main 20th floor lobby.

A weekly series featuring luxury hotel expert Mary Gostelow’s hotel pick of the week.

InterContinental Osaka is impressive not only for Japan‘s hotel market but for the InterContinental brand overall (which other InterCon has Riedel glasses in the restaurant and suites, and its own wine label that includes Clarendelle, a Bordeaux by Ch Haut-Brion?).

Two of a series of acrylic and bronze sculptures by Shizuoka artist Kyotaro Hakamata.

It is connected to the sprawling mass that is the main Osaka station. Just a minute walk from the hotel, you have one of the most exciting open atrium malls ever – no basic retail, but rather tech and start-up hubs, an Asics running laboratory where your feet can be minutely scanned to ensure the best shoe ever, and a Subway sandwich kiosk which grows its salads right in front of you. Continue on to the 200-room hotel which opened in July 2013. Rise to the 20th floor lobby, a soaring open space with restaurants, bars, and interactive art gallery. As well as permanent displays, every two months a renowned local artist is invited to perform, producing giant calligraphic swooshes that later flutter, overhead, as you join locals for afternoon tea.

I definitely recommend a room with access to the 28th floor Club Lounge, which opens at 7 a.m. Dine at the Michelin-starred Pierre, which makes even a soup an artwork. Ask one of the concierges or ‘bellmen’, all of whom are exquisitely groomed young ladies, to show you the dedicated wedding floor, so beautiful it will make you want to tie the knot right then and there. Its chapel has perennial water trickling down its far wall (the reflected cross can be replaced by your logo or any desired image). GM is Hans Heijilgers.

The wedding chapel.

Mary with Hotel GM Hans Heijligers and a typical sculpture by Korea’s Jaehyo Lee.

Check out last week’s Hotel of the Week.