Jean Jullien brings his playful PAPER PEOPLE to Azabudai Hills for a limited-run hotel takeover.
Tokyo’s best hotel stays tend to offer more than a handsome room and an efficient breakfast. This time, Janu Tokyo is adding something rather less expected to the mix – 10 life-sized paper people, scattered around the property as part of a new exhibition by French artist Jean Jullien.
Running until 30 September 2026, The GUESTS sees Jullien’s characteristically cheerful, slightly offbeat PAPER PEOPLE take up temporary residence at the hotel in Azabudai Hills.
They are not there to blend in. One might be found looking towards Tokyo Tower at Janu Grill; another has made itself at home beside the pool at the hotel’s wellness centre. Nine figures occupy the dining and social spaces, while the tenth is reserved for overnight guests.
For anyone unfamiliar with Jullien, the Paris-based artist has built an international following for work that sits somewhere between illustration, sculpture, design and visual mischief. His figures are instantly approachable: human, humorous and often just awkward enough to feel familiar. The PAPER PEOPLE series first appeared in Tokyo in 2021 at Shibuya PARCO, before travelling to Nantes, Paris and Seoul. Its return to the city feels fitting, particularly in a hotel that has made sociability and connection central to its identity.
The 10 figures were created exclusively for Janu Tokyo and produced by AD Japan in Pyrex, a material flexible enough to preserve the lightness and apparent fragility of paper. Set against the hotel’s polished interiors—deep timbers, stone, textural finishes and carefully composed views—their bright, graphic presence offers a welcome interruption. Think less traditional hotel art, more an invitation to look twice at the room you thought you knew.
The exhibition also gives the hotel’s dining spaces a playful new reason to linger. Janu Tokyo is already built around the idea of movement between its restaurants, bar, lounge and terraces; Jullien’s characters turn that circuit into a loose treasure hunt. Guests may stumble across one over afternoon tea, another during a cocktail, or one simply keeping watch over the city from an unexpectedly photogenic corner.
There is a two-night “Guests With Jean Jullien” accommodation offer to accompany the installation. It includes a surprise gift by Jullien, collaboration cookies from Janu Patisserie and a seasonal multi-course dinner at Janu Grill inspired by the exhibition. It is an appropriately maximalist way to experience an exhibition that does not believe art should stay politely on a wall.
At a time when hotel collaborations can feel engineered for the feed, this one has a little more charm. The PAPER PEOPLE are colourful, slightly lost and impossible to take too seriously—which, in a city as exacting as Tokyo, may be precisely the point.
