
Jing Lens
Welcome to my solo podcast ‘Jing Lens’ -- my lifestyle diary . Here I share daily hustle and grind, small joys from my travel and hobbies, exercise routine, self-care practice, and reflection on my personal growth, etc., I consider Jing Lens as my dynamic diary to document and capture evolving and ( hopefully elevating) journey of my lifestyle.
Lifestyle is a bit overkill buzzword today but I have always been drawn to this word, spending years and years searching and building my lifestyle. I guess I finally reach this self-validation point to feel may be able to share some mindset and practice from an ordinary person’s life to provide one possible form of wholesome and joyful living.
life requires us to do all grounding work that holds us accountable, and style allows us to curate a sense of aesthetic and belonging above it. Both life and style tie the façade and underneath into a concrete living reality, which helps us achieve a better state of mind in this physical world. This is my interpretation of lifestyle.
I am also running another podcast ' LifeDesigner with Jingyu Chen' where I interview amazing talents coming from all around the world across all different industries. They are artists, creatives, professionals, entrepreneurs, slash everything, and they are all on their journey to pursue their mission with a passion. It's their story-telling about how they become their own life designers!
Both podcasts are loctaed in my website. My website is like my container where I put my heart and soul to curate . Please feel free to visit my website to check in both podcasts if you are inetrested. Thank you so much for listening to my podcasts!
https://www.lifedesignerwithjingyuchen.com/
Jing Lens
My Stay in Hotel Gajoen Tokyo- A Museum Hotel featuring Japan beauty
Hi, welcome to Jing lens. Today, I want to share my recent amazing stay in Hotel Gajoen Tokyo. I am a bit of what we Chinese call ‘酒店控’. When I travel, I don’t do much planning. But I will pre-book an experiential luxury or boutique hotel for my trip within my affordability. Experiential hotels go beyond just providing an accommodation stay but a full range of cultural and lifestyle experiences, hence creating a temporary new reality and fantasy living for me. It is often just one or two nights stay, but memories will not easily fade away. That’s how I know it hit my core on a deep level.
The price tag doesn’t dictate a hotel experience. I often quite thoroughly look into their website to see whether it aligns with my aesthetic and style (just like interior design). External aesthetic and design can be visually sensed through its photos, videos ., but what I will also dive deeper into is the story-telling behind the hotel brand ( a bit like doing a podcast lol ).
Elements such as Architecture, cultural heritage, internal activities, and art showcase all fall into my interest categories. Overall, the choice of hotel is very personal as individuals expect differently. In my case, I grew up watching Ghibli animation. When stumbling upon this hotel with the saying that it’s the prototype of a bathhouse from the animated movie spirited away, it instantly hit my radar. Looking into the hotel website, it ticked all my boxes. A quick brief about the hotel. It’s a museum hotel with over 90 years of history featuring Japanese beauty. Old Gajoen was built as a restaurant and then expanded into an all-in-one wedding complex. From the get-go, it was designed to offer a fairyland for visitors and was called the palace of the dragon king of the Showa era. After reconstruction in 1988, most of the artwork was reattached to the current new building. It was very blessing that Hyakudan Kaidan (which has been deemed as tangible cultural property) of old Gajoen building are meticulously preserved and still in existence.
I had unique and immerisve culture experience in Hotel Gajoen Tokyo : First time to wear kimono, Hyakudan Kaidan exhibition, Hotel art tour, etc ., Both Hyakudan Kaidan exhibition and Hotel art tour are big eye feast. Forgive my poor vocabulary cabinet, I couldn’t even get close to delineating the intricacy and sophistication of artistry and rich heritage here. Historical touches and beautiful artwork can be found around every corner. While the new building presents grand luxe and contemporary cool, the gorgeous Japanese garden that surrounds the premises further adds to the ethereal beauty.
I want to say Gajoen hotel keeps transforming and elevating to stand the test of time. Its art legacy particularly transcends time and space to sustain and thrive to this day and onwards! It truly reflects ‘it’s a fairy tale retreat that mixes 1930s glamour with contemporary cool in Meguro, Tokyo’.
I also want to shine a spotlight on ‘holding pride to work’. Essentially, every industry is customer service. What I learn as both a service provider and service recipient is that you have to fully engage in your work with pride. Your energy will translate to whoever you serve, which may make or break’ This could be once in a lifetime encounter’ with your customers or clients.
I want to send my deep respect and genuine thanks to every hotel staff I have come across this time in Gajoen Hotel. I will sincerely recommend people to check in this hotel if they pursue an intimate artistic and emotional connection with artwork, culture, story-telling, architecture, and nature through an experiential hotel. It’s definitely not a cookie-cutter experience but a of kind precious memory.
https://www.lifedesignerwithjingyuchen.com/