Do i need a visa if i am in beijing for less than 48 hours?

Land in Beijing (PEK) at 1:35 pm on Friday August 4th.

We are staying at the Rosewood hotel in Beijing on the nights of August 4th and 5th.

Beijing is a tourist/vacation but we are there for less than 48 hours.

We leave/fly out of Beijing on Sunday August 6th at 8:25am flying to Tokyo (HND airport).

We are staying in Tokyo from Sunday August 6th and leaving back to the US on Sunday August 13th at 5:00pm (NRT Airport). So to answer your question we are staying in Tokyo.