Going Local
For a theme park onsen experience Ooedo Onsen is the best in the city. Rock up and the first
thing you do is choose which yukata you'd like to wear – geishas, war lords and Mount Fuji images fighting it out
on their backs. Suitably attired, walk through the mini village of shops and restaurants to the baths. Here you enter,
wash, and then have lots of fun bath hopping. Temperatures range from hot to incredibly hot and stone cold; baths have
jets, different ingredients and there are some rock pools and hinoki tubs outside too. Start gently and when you've acclimatized
to the surrounding nakedness use the little white cloth to tie your hair back rather than hide bits of body.
Refreshingly, no one here is looking or even cares. Then go for a spa treatment or tuck into ramen and a drink.
www.ooedoonsen.jp
Admission Y2,827 (US$26) includes baths, yukata and towel
Little Bites
Daiwa Sushi has the longest lines for breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market – the best way to start the day.
Afternoon tea is an institution in Tokyo. Try Ekki Afternoon Spring at the Four Seasons at Marunouchi. Gonpachi Restaurant
was the inspiration for the Japanese restaurant fight scenes in the Tarantino movie Kill Bill. Salt is Aussie
chef Luke Mangan's Tokyo home from home. Gordon Ramsay at Conrad Tokyo is heaven on a plate. Tsunahachi tempura restaurant
chain is friendly and delicious.
Admission Y2,827 (US$26) includes baths, yukata and towel
More than just a Toilet
It is easy to be put off by all the bells and whistles of a Japanese toilet. At The Peninsula, the lid magically lifts
as you approach, and there is barely a seat in the city which isn't pre-warmed. Many simulate the noise of running water,
as encouragement or camouflage. Try the gamut of jets (all shockingly accurate – some even oscillate), dryers and
the deodorizers. If you haven't gone through the different lavatory-navigation then you just haven't experienced Tokyo!
Local Trends
Keiko Watanabe is Tokyo's leading spa and beauty journalist, working in the industry for over 20 years. "In Japan
the wellness trends have always been about cosmetics, but not so much about spas as we have such a traditional onsen
culture. Traditionally a massage would be shiatsu and probably done by an older man or woman, so the Japanese need time
to convert to the idea of a modern spa. After the millennium there was a spa boom in Tokyo, with new ideas coming from
Europe and The States as well as Hawaii and Bali, both popular destinations for Japanese travelers.
"The majority of the masses in Japan have never been to a spa. They habitually go to an onsen or modern super-sento
to bathe, and to an aesthetic salon for facials and slimming where they build up a relationship with the therapist and
look for value for money. Hotel-based spas are very expensive – more accessible for the 40-50 age range. Younger
generations are influenced by the recession, and more interested in beauty products, especially brightening and whitening,
and make-up."