Evening at The Manyo Club, Part I: The Foot Massage

A while back, our friend Olivia had told us about a spa/Japanese bath house called The Manyo Club (http://www.manyo.co.jp/mm21/yu/) , which was right down the street from our Yokohama hotel. Although the website was exclusively in Japanese, enough photos were included to convince Samia & I to be totally on board with the idea of spending an evening there. We agreed to join Olivia & her husband for dinner there on Tuesday night, with the promise of massage appointments and hot spring tubs to follow. Did I mention that the spa only closes one hour per day (I think from 4-5am)? Awesome. I'm sold.

The four of us enjoyed a great dinner, and did so in a traditional Japanese style (at least what I think of as traditional Japanese, based on American TV :) ) by sitting on our knees at a low table. One of my legs fell asleep, but it was otherwise quite comfortable. My fellow diners all enjoyed Asian delicacies, but I was positively jumping for joy at the chance to eat watermelon and broccoli for dinner (from the small salad bar...a welcome oasis of fruits and veggies that I had been desperately seeking since arriving in Japan). :) Oh, and I enjoyed some cantaloupe ice cream for dessert, just for good measure...tasty stuff.

After dinner, we went to the check-in desk and were allowed to choose our yukata (casual/summer kimono-like robe & sash) for the evening. Fantastic! We quickly changed into the VERY comfortable Japanese get-up (no shoes allowed, by the way!) & strolled downstairs to choose our respective massages from the massive spa menu. Samia chose the traditional shiatsu massage, while I (in typical form) decided to do something a little "different." I chose a "relaxing foot massage" which sounds straightforward enough, right? Well, instead of the reflexology-type focus on my feet that one might imagine, I was instead instructed to lay down on my stomach (on a tatami mat on the floor), and proceeded to receive a full-body massage from the masseuse's toes. :) And I have to say that it was NICE. Thankfully I'm not one of those people that is freaked out by feet, and I just had to trust that hers were clean since this is her livelihood. :) It was incredibly relaxing, although I was giggling in my head for the entire 45 minutes. But that wasn't all that the evening had to offer...