Green space isn’t the first image that springs to mind when one thinks of Tokyo, but the sprawling gardens of the city’s Imperial Palace are on display from every room at the new Palace Hotel Tokyo, which opened for business yesterday.

The property sits on a prime moat-side location. It’s a successor to two previous hotels—Hotel Teito and the Palace Hotel—that occupied the same site from 1947 and 1961, respectively.

The hotel’s 12 categories of accommodation range from deluxe rooms, at 45 to 55 square meters, to suites that start at 75 square meters and extend to 255. Many of the rooms and suites have open terraces and balconies.

Ten restaurants run the gamut from Japanese to French, with two-star Michelin chefs behind the scenes at a few.

Evian, famous for its mineral water and luxe resort in France, has its first spa in Japan on the hotel’s fifth floor.

Among the Japanese touches in the rooms are 300-thread-count Imabari bed linens and bath towels from the Ehime prefecture and Maruyama Nori teas manufactured in Tokyo’s Tsukiji district.

Tech features include complimentary wireless and wired high-speed Internet access, 46-inch LCD TVs and Blue-ray/DVD/CD players.

The hotel’s published room rates range from US$625 to $8,800 for the premium suites.