Newbie here, and some newb questions too

[PureAngel]

Hi everybody,

I've been living in Japan for about 2 years, thinking about starting to go to soaplands for personal reasons.

My Japanese is... okay I guess. I work in Japanese, and can have conversations about most topics, deal with the bank and the post office and the hospital, but still get lost watching drama, following conversations between a lot of people, or for technical stuff. Talking on the phone is also almost impossible

I live near Kawasaki, so that's where I'm thinking of going. If I'm honest, I'm looking to start with the cheapest place I can find, to get used to it. I already found the area where they are (Horinouchicho), and walked around a bit, but felt too ashamed to enter anywhere

And now, 10 newbie questions (I will make separate threads if it's better):

1. I started searching already, and some places in Kawasaki start at ~5000k. But all the reviews on this forum are at least 10-12k. What am I missing? Is it a case of "oh they say 5k, but there are a lot of additional stuff to pay and it adds up to ~10k" ? For example:

http://www.grandrose-kawasaki.com/system.html
http://www.oideyasueden.com/system.html
http://www.oideyasueco.com/system.html

2. Still on payment: is cash okay? Do you take more than needed, or do you try to avoid it? Have you had issues before?

3. Do I need to book before going, or can I just walk in?

4. In your experience, how "truthful" are pictures? While browsing the websites, they all look gorgeous, which I find hard to believe

5. Related: some girls look obviously better than others in the same sopaland. Is it the same price for everybody, or are there places where you pay more for some people than for others?

6. Do you know a place to search for something specific? Like if for some reason I'm looking for "short haired blonde tall girl with dark skin and big boobs", is there a way to find out where there is a girl like this, or do I have to browse every site one by one? I've found something kind of like that for deriheru, but not for soapland

7. Apparently, when you pay for a course, you often have "two shots". Is it.... that common? Maybe I'm getting older, but even two shots in 24 hours is difficult, so 2 shots in 40mn... Do you use your two shots every time? What do you do if you're really finished? Just chat, hang out, play Mario Kart?

8. This is probably stupid, but how do you deal with the shame of entering the place? I'm fine with doing the actual thing, but the idea of people seeing me enter the soapland is damn embarrassing. I'm easy to recognize (tall, white), it's only a couple stations away from where I live, and the idea of people seeing me in the street the following week and thinking "damn that's the gaijin who went to a soapland" is terrible. I know it's silly, but that's my main block. I even thought about wearing a mask and a cap until I'm inside, wearing different clothes from usual, etc. How do you deal with this?

9. While I'm mostly looking for soaplands, deriheru somehow seems more attractive (more intimate, girls seem cuter and more "real", entering a soapland feels shameful). But having to set up a place is a pain, having to call is terrible, and from what I understand FS is close to impossible. People with experience of both sopaland and deriheru, what are the advantages/disadvantages of both?

10. And finally, and probably unrelated, I've been to a couple love hotels around Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ugusuidani), and they were all the same price and kinda expensive (Ugusuidani was the best regarding quality). In the whole Tokyo+Kanagawa area, what are good and tested areas for cheap love hotels?

Sorry it got pretty long, and thanks in advance!

Looking forward to sharing reviews with everybody here~

 

[Lukes]

8. This is probably stupid, but how do you deal with the shame of entering the place? I'm fine with doing the actual thing, but the idea of people seeing me enter the soapland is damn embarrassing. I'm easy to recognize (tall, white), it's only a couple stations away from where I live, and the idea of people seeing me in the street the following week and thinking "damn that's the gaijin who went to a soapland" is terrible. I know it's silly, but that's my main block. I even thought about wearing a mask and a cap until I'm inside, wearing different clothes from usual, etc. How do you deal with this?

Okay so I'm going to answer this one because it speaks to me and I can't be bothered to write an essay. I'll let the others take a crack at that.

I used to feel a bit sheepish about going into massage parlors and brothels and hotel rooms with escorts. I would always wonder what other people who see me might think. Then I realized I don't give a shit. And neither should you. Obviously you don't want to run into someone you know but the risk comes with the territory.

The Japanese in town probably already talk about you behind your back anyways so you might as well be known as the white guy that got some yellowtail, if you know what I mean.

Lucky for you they already developed an OTC medication for this mental problem you're having. It's called whiskey. A shot or two will get you sorted out.

 

[Sudsy]

1. Those are soaplands, and what you are seeing is the 入浴料 "bathing fee". There is an additional fee, often paid directly to the lady, that ranges from 2 to 4 times the bathing fee.

2. Cash is always the preferred medium. Never use credit cards to monger.

3. Varies depending on place, most will accept walk ins, but if you want a particular girl you should make a reservation. Many places will not take reservations from first time customers.

4. Varies from place to place - some are quite accurate, some photoshop so heavily you would sear it was a different person.

5. Many places have "premium" girls who command a higher price. AV stars, for example, often command double or triple the rate.

6. Not in English. If you can read Japanese, there are - Cityheaven is a good start.

7. Shorter courses are often one shot only. I'm older, but some of these girls can still get 2-3 shots out of me in a 120 minute session.

8. I have no shame. But really - nobody else cares, especially if they're in the neighbourhood.

9. Read reviews, make up your own mind.

10. Did you even read the forum? There is a thread dedicated to love hotels.

 

[PureAngel]

Haha okay, I will keep that in mind regarding the shame thing, thanks

1. Those are soaplands, and what you are seeing is the 入浴料 "bathing fee". There is an additional fee, often paid directly to the lady, that ranges from 2 to 4 times the bathing fee.

Aaaaaah okay that makes more sense! I checked on the websites, but couldn't find info, is it something that's only shown inside the actual place?

10. Did you even read the forum? There is a thread dedicated to love hotels.

Ah, I've been lurking around here for a while, but didn't see that thread. Even now, can't seem to find it...

edit: my bad, found it. Sorry

 

[MikeH]

If I'm honest, I'm looking to start with the cheapest place I can find

Not to shoot you down but be aware that most of the cheapest shops are strictly Japanese only. And even if they are not they have different prices for foreigners.

 

[PureAngel]

Not to shoot you down but be aware that most of the cheapest shops are strictly Japanese only. And even if they are not they have different prices for foreigners.

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that. I'll make a list of a couple places and go to each one one after the other until I find one that lets me in

From my first exploration, I could kind of notice the different attitude of the "guy outside", whose face was either "gtfo" or grinning ear to ear. One of the websites I found was actually pretty clear about its different prices/conditions for foreigners, but apparently it was mostly for "non Japanese speaking foreigners" (Japanese version vs foreigner version), so I'm hoping my kinda good Japanese might open up some places

 

[ShowaJidai]

About the shyness - if for whatever reason somehow somebody says anything about seeing you there just laugh it off with a "Gaijin all look the same to you, huh" and then steer the coversation to "so what were YOU doing in that part of town?"

 

[joeking]

I’m not trying to bust your chops here, but starting at the cheapest and then moving up is not really conducive for a great experience. I suppose it’s a mindset game, but if you are always thinking ‘could it have been cheaper’ you are always going to devalue the experience. I think it’s hard coming from the west to ever leave behind that mindset of looking for the best deal, but when prices are set not to make maximum profit but to keep to a particular level of clientele, you are asking for trouble if you always are looking for the cheapest.

 

[User#8628]

I’m not trying to bust your chops here, but starting at the cheapest and then moving up is not really conducive for a great experience. I suppose it’s a mindset game, but if you are always thinking ‘could it have been cheaper’ you are always going to devalue the experience. I think it’s hard coming from the west to ever leave behind that mindset of looking for the best deal, but when prices are set not to make maximum profit but to keep to a particular level of clientele, you are asking for trouble if you always are looking for the cheapest.

Thats right. The thing people usually do is start with an expensive session to have a higher chance they will actually enjoy it and then when they are more experienced and know what to look out for, they move to cheaper services.
Think about it, if you have your first time with an unattractive and grumpy girl, you might even never try again, while if you run into a "bomb" after doing it a few times, you are more likely to get over it and recover.

Sure, expensive doesn't guarantee a good experience but it gives you better chances.

 

[PureAngel]

Ok that's a good point, I might expand a bit

It's just that when I look, there is huge variety in the prices, and I'm not sure paying two or three times more means it will be two or three times better :/