From the vantage point of the Mandarin Oriental's thirty-eighth-floor lobbyall floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows and brisk efficiencythe city looks scrubbed, a collection of Tinkertoys seen through a scrim of clouds, and the effect is dazzling. The 179 rooms, though tasteful to the point of dullness, are full of smart utilitarian details, such as the hallway-accessible "service closet," into which staff deposit your newspaper or polished shoes, and a waterfall-style shower tucked into a marble alcove. The Mandarin Oriental is in the quiet Nihonbashi area, which, although destroyed during World War II, still evokes something of what Tokyo must have been like in the Edo period. It's also close to the busy Ginza district, home to some of the city's most upscale stores.