Hotel brand Trunk worked alongside design studio Tripster to create this boutique hotel in Tokyo, which takes cues from traditional Japanese aesthetics – but unusually boasts its own miniature nightclub.

Hidden away down a cobbled street in Tokyo's buzzing Kagurazaka neighbourhood, Trunk House has been created by the hotel's in-house design team and locally based studio Tripster to have a residential feel.

"The idea for Trunk House was inspired by the salons found in Tokyo in the past, where artists and creatives would congregate – spaces where people would share ideas and exchange thoughts, where culture could be fostered," Hiroe Tanaka, creative director of Trunk, told Dezeen.

"We wanted to make a contemporary version of this concept which would accommodate modern creatives in and out of Japan."

The one-bedroom boutique hotel takes over a 70-year-old geisha house: a property where Japanese female entertainers, known as geishas, would live and practice how to dance, sing and make conversation with male clients.

Trunk's design team went about completely restoring and renovating the building to make it suitable for guest use.

Its focal point is now a bright-red room that, according to the designers, is the smallest disco in Japan. Complete with a curved drinks bar, glittering disco ball and illuminated dance floor, there is also a karaoke machine available for guests to use.

Spaces throughout the rest of the guesthouse –which can sleep up to four when required – boast a much more pared-back aesthetic.

In the master bedroom, a single artwork overlooks a mattress perched upon an elevated wooden platform, while the dining room features almost-black walls and a long oak table.

It looks through to a small, greenery-filled courtyard and open kitchen where professional chefs will cook-up traditional dishes for guests.

There is also a tiled bathroom that's dominated by a huge square bath crafted from cypress wood, and a tearoom with tatami mats arranged around a sunken fireplace.

Guests can alternatively relax in the sitting room, which is dressed with a chunky brown-leather sofa.

The hotel is exited via a small, split-level foyer with grey mortar walls.

It's been designed to resemble a genkan – the recessed floor area at the entrance of Japanese homes, where visitors can remove their shoes before stepping into the house proper.

"The interiors of Trunk House were informed by our understanding of Tokyo's cultural and architectural landscape: ever-changing, fluid, and a mixture of tradition and modernity," said Tanaka.

Trunk House is meant to offer a different guest experience to the brand's existing Trunk Hotel that opened in Shibuya in 2017.

Host to 15 rooms and several lively public spaces where locals and international visitors can interact, the original hotel is meant to help guests "feel part of Tokyo".

Photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.