nycguy

Hello all,
Hoping for some good advice from the FT community.
My wife and I are transferring from Narita to Haneda on Saturday 29 November on our way back home from Thailand. We land at NRT at 1500 and our flight out of Haneda departs at 2400.
We don't want to spend a ton of money but I was thinking a nice way to relax between flights (and since we have to go through the city anyway between airports) would be to get an inexpensive (relatively speaking) treatment at the Mandarin Oriental spa and hang out there for a while in addition to getting a meal. I was thinking we would take the airport express bus from NRT to the MO, then a taxi from the MO to HND.
I should add that my wife is pregnant (no hot springs) and a little bit cautious about hygiene (I know that it's probably not warranted here) so a place like the MO that offers a relaxation lounge seems to be a good option for us.
Any thoughts or suggestions are most appreciated.
Thanks.

jpatokal

Have you been to Japan before? If not, while I won't claim personal familiarity with the MO Tokyo's offerings, instead of paying megabucks for what would presumably be a rather generic 5-star-hotel spa that could be anywhere in the world, I'd suggest visiting an actual Japanese onsen (hot spring) style resort. Eg. Oedo Onsen Monogatari can be reached by direct shuttle bus from Tokyo stn, and continuing from there to Haneda by train or even taxi should be fairly straightforward.

LapLap

I agree with Jpatokal. But my suggestion would be LaQua which, to me, seems more in tune with your stated ambitions.

More recs and suggestions in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...kyo-onsen.html

jib71

Your cheapest option, if you're happy with a pared down experience, might be Heiwajima "Big Fun" spa. It's just a sauna and pools in a building with some other "blue collar" entertainment facilities (bowling alley, pachinko, boat racing, kaiten sushi etc.). Although it's not a deluxe facility, it has a nice sauna/pool setup and good massage treatments.

If you wanted to go there, I would suggest that you first take the bus from NRT to HND and check in your luggage for your midnight flight. Then proceed to the Keikyu railway station at the international terminal.

Take Keikyu Airport Express to Keikyu Kamata
Change to Keikyu main line and go to Heiwajima
Take free shuttle bus from Heiwajima station to Heiwajima Big Fun
(370yen)
http://www.big-fun.jp/en/access.html

Or, if you're feeling tired you could just get a cab.

MSPeconomist

Depending on airline and destination, OP might not be able to check in early at HND. It would be a mistake to go directly to HND first without checking carefully on the airline's check in counter hours and rules about how early before the flight they will accept checked bags. If the OP is flying a USA carrier to the USA, which is likely for a midnight departure, I would expect agents to be available about three hours before the flight and a four hour absolute maximum even if agents are there for another flight.

jib71

Good point. There are also coin lockers at HND international terminal.

In nearby Kamata you can find local reflexology and massage / beauty treatment shops which will cost less than the MO. Like these
http://www.letemps.jp/menu.html

Those places are pretty good for relatively cheap prices (although much more expensive than you'll find in Thailand). You probably won't find an English speaking therapist, though.

EDIT - And much as I dislike Prince Hotels, there's a spa at the Prince Sakura Tower which looks OK
http://www.princehotels.co.jp/takana...he-sakura.html

evergrn

If it were me, I'd take the Limousine Bus straight from NRT to MO (drops u off right at the hotel, and they take care of your bags for u). There's one leaving NRT's T2 at 16.10p / T1 at 16.15p, scheduled to get you to MO by 17.50p. MO is quite a ways from Tokyo Station, and Tokyo Sta itself is a bear to navigate through. If you really wanted to take a train to MO for the experience, I'd suggest Skyliner express train to Keisei Ueno then xfer to Ginza subway line and head down to Mitsukoshi-mae and you're right there. I do understand your fear of hot springs in light of your wife being pregnant.


+1

emma69

I had a lovely treatment at the Shangri-La, which is located right beside Tokyo Station (easy to get the NEX train from Narita in).

They have couples massage treatment rooms set up, at least one of which has its own oversize hot tub (which is filled specifically for you, so you could specify a cooler than normal temperature if that is a concern). There is also a nice lap pool next to the spa location.

I had a great massage, therapist had magic hands! There are a couple of restaurant choices, a Japanese and an Italian, which are both non smoking (the lobby lounge allows smoking, so I would avoid that and, indeed, many of the other hotel lounges as many seem to allow smoking).

jpatokal

By the way, you might be interested to note that "no hot springs for pregnant women" is pretty much a US-only superstition, with no medical evidence to support that it causes any harm. And your wife can eat sushi too!

LapLap

I did a LOT of research on this before my own visiting Japan whilst pregnant trip, and I agree.
There are a few caveats though.
Hot baths:
Tokyo does typically have much hotter sento and onsen then other parts of Japan. Historically it was to limit people's visits (the equivalent of sloping seats and mildly irritating music at fast food joints) and the high temperatures then became something folks got accustomed to. The larger super sento (like Oedo Onsen Monogatari and LaQua) will have cooler - cooler than 40/41C - baths.
I used information and data from Finland and Japan to help understand the actual (rather than perceived/assumed) risks.
Sushi/Sashimi:
Main concern was mercury and heavy metal levels, but this applied equally to cooked fish as to raw. So tuna, bonito, marlin, yellowtail, cod, (some of the squids if you are being very cautious) are perhaps best avoided, or eaten sparingly.
Again, I went on the information given to pregnant women in Japan for guidance on food I could eat in Japan. I ate a LOT of fish and shellfish when I was there, my father-in-law recommended wakame seaweed in particular.