It was a very welcome national holiday (coming of age day), and we spent a few hours at Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba. This is an 'Old Edo Tokyo' themed venue with multiple hot baths, both indoor and out. The geothermally heated water is piped up from deep below. On entry we chose from a selection of yukata then changed into them. They had run out of jinbei trousers for kids but Emily seemed happy with the top only (for which they waived the usual charge). On the other side of the changing room was an area made to look like an old street scene at night, so the high ceiling was painted black and there were lots of gaily-coloured lanterns. We went straight into the onsen. It's such a shame that we had to part from Nick - it was separate bathing, as usual. Emily and I went in through the curtain and stripped off in the changing room, then passed through to the vast bathroom, where a couple of hundred naked women and children were washing or immersing themselves in baths of various temperatures. I was really relieved that they had some baths at a lower temperature so that Emily could go in. We stayed in the cooler bath and she seemed to be really enjoying herself.
Back out in the 'street', we bought lunch from one of the many faux restaurants. Emily was happy with a bowl of fat white udon noodles and some of Nick's pickled ginger.
After we'd filled up we moved on to the outside section, donning bulky down jackets to keep out the chill. Here there was a very large canal-style footbath, set among pebble paths and plants.
Our objective, however, was the 'doctor fish' bath. I had heard about these from other intrepid gaijin and thought that with a possible move home looming I had better grit my teeth and try this unique experience. These small black fish actually like to eat the dead skin from peoples' feet! A friend had told me that it was weird and a little unpleasant at first, so I was feeling nervous. Nick put his feet into the pool first and immediately let out an exclamation, which made me even more scared. His feet were covered in the little black bodies.
I found the courage somehow to go ahead and plunged my feet in. Straight away they began nibbling at my skin and I did find it both unpleasant and also very tickly.
My whole body was rigid with trepidation. Poor Emily was getting upset because she could see that I was fearful. I managed to convince her that my reaction was purely bcause it was tickling me so much, which was not entirely untrue. It took a good five minutes for me to relax a bit and stop nervously guffawing, to the amusement of the other two customers. By the end of the 15 minute slot I had got used to it, but Emily was agitating to leave. When we withdrew our feet they were indeed a lot smoother and felt pleasantly tingly.
I went back into the main womens' bath while Emily stayed with Nick. This time I tried out all the baths: jacuzzi, mineral, rotemburo, one with bubbles so fine the water looks totally cloudy. i went to collect Emily from Nick's care so she could come back into the cooler bath she liked, and so that he could have another soak.
On our way home, pausing to stock up at Peacock, we had yet another meltdown. I refuse to allow a 3 year old child to dictate what we are doing. I hate to see her in such a state though. Of course all was OK once we were home but this is turning into a daily event.
Later I went for a much-needed stress-relieving one hour run. It was absolutely bitter outside and almost hurt to breathe in, but I settled into it and was soon quite comfortable. The scales rewarded me with a drop to 63.1kg.
No comments:
Post a Comment