Soshigaya Onsen 21 (Tokyo)

 bathhouse, hot spring, onsen

Nearest Station: Soshigaya-okura
Address 3-36-21 Soshigaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone 03-3483-2611
Home Page www.soshigaya-onsen21.com (In Japanese)
Business Hours 2:00pm to 2:00am
Price Admission: Adults 450 yen, Children 180 yen

Soshigaya Onsen is a natural hot spring, its soft water heated in the bowels of mother earth. Located in one of Tokyo's posher wards, it is several cuts above your standard public bath. Actually, Soshigaya Onsen has more in common with the lush marble-and-chromium private baths for weary executives which will cost you ten times as much. As a public bath, Soshigaya Onsen's basic fee - thanks to an indulgent city government that looks on public baths the way the Roman senate looked on bread and circuses - is quite low.

Type of hot spring: Sodium bicarbonate. Effective for neuralgia and sensitivity to cold. Recommended to smooth the skin.

The bath is not so big; it is two hemi-cylindrical rooms with baths, showers and saunas, and between them is a big hall in lieu of a rotemburo, with a cool pool and a couple of hot baths (a jet bath and a denki-buro)

For 1,000 yen, though, you get access to a whole range of goodies, beginning with a roomy sauna with a 5-minute sand glass at each place. There's also a cool (about 23C) 25-meter swimming pool lined with palm trees; a waterfall to stand under to let water pound down on your head and shoulders; a steam-mist sauna which is like being in a tropical rain forest; a small (one-person) "ice sauna" with -2C temperature; a place where you can have needle sprays tickle you from 360 degrees; a bubble bath; a herbal pool with silky pitch-black water; and a jet bath. Your 1,000 yen will also get you a bag containing a large fluffy towel and a small tenugui towel, a miniature bar of soap, a disposable razor, and vials of shampoo and rinse. Also for sale are clean underwear and socks and a range of toiletries.

In the carpeted lobby, racks hold the latest newspapers and magazines for all tastes, from comics to literary commentary. The walls are hung with modern prints and paintings and there is an arrangement of seasonal flowers. For 4,000 yen, you can have a 40-minute massage, or a 100-yen 10-min massage in a massage chair.

Beer is available on the corner. For well-crafted sushi, turn right at the corner onto main street and a short walk will bring you to Kinzushi (tel 03.3483.1413).

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