On my last business trip to Tokyo I went to Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba, one of the few proper hot springs in Tokyo. (I’d say Spa LaQua at Tokyo Dome is the next-best proper one… though of course every neighborhood has its own public bath…) Lots of people have been and given it good reviews, so even I, who likes to think I’ve been to a fair few onsen -_-, couldn’t help being curious.
Main entrance
Get off at Fune-no-Kagakukan (Museum of Maritime Science) Station and walk a little and there it is. I thought it would be right next to the station, but no… Anyway, it’s got the kind of exterior that goes down well with foreigners. The parking is well set up too. The downside is that Odaiba isn’t the easiest place to get to, so if you go late at night like I did there’s hardly anyone around and it feels pretty desolate. It looks like you can stay overnight too, but I didn’t check.
Front counter
First you pay at the counter, pick out a yukata and head in. There’s a theme park area and restaurants inside, but it’s not as big as I expected. It was quiet late at night, which was a bit of a letdown, but the onsen facilities themselves are really well done. For an onsen to actually do you any good the water has to stay at a constant temperature, and at cheap onsen they often just don’t care if the water goes cold. At Oedo Onsen the temperature stayed constant whether there were people or not, even late at night, which I liked. Having facilities like this right in the middle of Tokyo is impressive. But for someone like me who’s starting to get tired of onsen, it feels a bit pricey. I spent a few hours there that day and it came to over 3,000 yen. If you think of it as a taste of Japanese onsen culture it’s not an expensive price, but I don’t think I’ll be going back.
Being Odaiba, there were quite a few customers who drove in late at night. That day, for the first time in decades, I saw someone swimming in the bath. -_-;; That put me in a bad mood, so I left partway through and took a taxi back to the hotel. If you go before dinnertime it’s probably a fun place with all sorts of cultural things to try, but I don’t recommend going at night. For that money I’d rather just call a masseuse and get a foot massage.