Brett N.
Yelp
Why 5 stars? Because we desperately need these in America!
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My wife and I like to have these fantasy conversations where we pretend like we're going to become business owners and open a place that would fulfill a void near our house. We definitely have absolutely nothing like this onsen anywhere near us, and I'm not sure if there's one even within 5 states of our house.
Things you can do here: receive any type of massage you could hope for, sit in any type of hot tub you could ever want and eat/drink some really amazing food/drink.
One strange note: if you have tattoos, you are not allowed to come to the onsen. And if you're looking to get in one of the hot tub/spas, you have to get completely naked, so there's no hiding those tats!
But we are ink-free, so we proceeded on in. The first thing on the agenda was to take our shoes off and place them in a locker. This is a pretty normal thing to do in Asian culture, but they are extremely strict here with shoes never touching the floor inside, beyond the initial entrance. You can tell that the floor is incredibly clean too, as it feels as smooth as a baby's bottom. Note: I have not felt many or any baby butts, but they do appear to be pretty smooth.
Once we put our shoes away, we were given robes and asked to change into them. We went into our separate locker rooms and got into our outfits. It was actually quite lovely to be rocking nothing but a robe and walking through the onsen. We need more places in America where it's appropriate and totally normal to be in robe-only.
The first thing on our to-do list was to get massages. These massages were absolutely amazing - I wish that they never would have ended! The only strange thing was that all of the massage tables were in a giant room, so it was not exactly the private situation that we were accustomed to. Still, the massage itself was so wonderful that it made us forget all about the fact that we were in a wide-open room with plenty of light in it. I don't think anyone else ended up coming in here for a massage while ours were happening, so it ended up kind of being a private room after all. But if at capacity, there could have been like 30+ massages happening simultaneously.
Then we entered the spa area, separately. I say separately because these are specifically designated for men or women and are fully nude. Once you disrobe, the only thing you are allowed to have with you is a small hand towel, which you can use to hold in front of your bits and pieces if you're shy. I was a little weirded out by it, but when you see everyone else walking around in their birthday suits, it actually makes you feel like everyone is going to be starring at you if you're actually not just walking around free like the rest of the people.
Imagine the 10-12 fanciest, largest hot tubs you've ever seen, all in one room - those were the surroundings. It was all quite peaceful and relaxing. I ended up trying out each different type of bath - some of them were fairly still, while others were super bubbly with powerful jets. They even had once with micro bubbles, and I'm still not sure exactly what that means, but it was neat.
Lastly, we walked around the food court and after much deliberation, we chose our respective spots. I opted for a bibimbap bowl from a Korean stall, which was really solid. My wife loved here food, as well. We ended with some absolutely delicious shaved ice.
Unfortunately, right around the time that we arrived at the onsen, I began to experience some symptoms of a stomach infection that would actually end up plaguing me for the next ten days. At the time, I was hoping that it was just something that would quickly get out of my system, but it continued to worsen the longer we stayed at the onsen. It's a shame because my wife was in heaven the entire time and I loved it myself, despite my symptoms getting more and more severe. Even with that, I could appreciate how amazing this place was and would definitely return if I find myself in Tokyo again. I will say - it's definitely not a cheap experience, but still a must-do!