MEATSPACE
In the heart of Tokyo's Shibuya district - ground zero of Japan's dotcom boom - the latest hangout is the Excel Hotel Tokyu.
The West Tower of the 25-story glass-and-steel Shibuya Mark City complex houses NTT Electronics, game-software giant Konami, and incubator SunBridge Venture Habitat, run by former Oracle Japan head Allen Miner.
Just across a mezzanine-level bridge, the adjoining hotel artfully caters to the needs of entrepreneurs on the go, with each of the 120 rooms designated for business travelers boasting a 10-Mbps Net connection. If your laptop doesn't make it through customs, the front desk will loan you an NEC notebook. Pay phones scattered throughout the hotel feature IR ports that let you connect your handheld. Even the hotel's toilets are high tech: The seats are electrically warmed, and a timely spray of water offers users back end support. The hotel's rooms feature ultramodern furnishings set in a decor as simple as an ikebana flower arrangement - a calming respite from the traffic and neon mayhem outside. Two floors of the hotel are female-only, with beefed-up security, and all guests receive Japanese yukata robes for lounging.
When you're ready to power lunch, duck out to the nearby Kaikaya for Euro-Japanese fusion seafood in a lively atmosphere of capitalist decadence. It's a favorite haunt of dealmakers, where the drink of choice is a frosty Kirin lager: Building Japan's infobahn can work up a mighty thirst.
Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu: 1-12-2 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. +81 (3) 5457 0109, www.tokyu.co.jp/inn. Single standard room: $145.
Kaikaya: 23-7 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. +81 (3) 3770 0878. Open daily; last call at 11 pm.
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