The Grand Blue Express is a luxury aquarium dining restaurant in Ueno, Tokyo. The renovated space limited to 95sqm took on the 5th floor of a mixed used building. Inspired by luxury trains, the design tries to overcome the small space limitations to both accommodate the aquariums and provide the luxurious atmosphere the restaurant aims to implement. The dining room takes the form of a corridor coach that serves the individual cabins on both sides. each cabin is equipped with its aquarium installed to mimic the train windows, creating the impression to be inside a train cruising underwater.

Tetsuya Matsumoto is the founder and Head Architect Designer at KTX archiLAB based in Japan, and a Lecturer of a space design course at Osaka University of Art. After graduating from the same university, he specialized in commercial space design and built a large portfolio of projects varying both in type and scale, from shops and restaurants to offices and clinics, and from a small pharmacy to a large Hospital. Tetsuya has received more than a hundred local and international design awards and became a jury member for several prestigious prizes.

Nautilus is an aquarium dining restaurant based in Ueno Tokyo. It offers a luxury dining atmosphere and an equally high end gastronomical menu. The restaurants location in some of the busiest neighbors of Tokyo takes advantage of the narrow space it takes part in to offer a unique experience.