Japan’s first SM-themed soapland comes to Kobe

TOKYO (TR) – As a keen observer of perversions, fetishes and assorted erotica, evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai (June 29) believes it has uncovered Japan’s first club that combines soapland and SM services. Read more

Beppu bathhouse gives dirty old men the VIP treatment

Keeping sex services running in the world’s most rapidly aging society presents a daunting challenge. So you’ve got to hand it to Pink House, a soapland (erotic bathhouse) in the hot springs town of Beppu, Oita prefecture.

“Instead of an air mattress or sukebe isu, we put something else in the room,” a staff member tells Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 24).

The “something” was a non-slip shower chair of the type used to bathe enfeebled elderly.

“A lot of seniors come to the Beppu hot springs for a therapeutic soak,” explains Yayoi, a 24-year-old masseuse. Read more

Oil prices squeezing soaplands, staff

In May, the Senhime (“thousand princesses”) group of erotic bathhouses in Yokohama and Kawasaki cities apologetically announced on its web site that it would tack the consumption tax onto its admission charges, effectively raising prices by 5 percent.

The evening tabloid newspaper Nikkan Gendai (July 9) reports that customers were informed that the cost rise was due to the soaring price of heavy oil, which is used for the boilers. In a typical month, such bathhouses, which are euphemistically referred to as “soaplands,” consume about 300,000 yen worth of oil.

“Sex businesses in Tokyo are having a rough time too,” says Yukio Murakami, a journalist who covers the industry. He runs off a list of items whose costs have recently risen sharply, including sukebe isu (literally “lecher chairs,” specially configured bathing stools), massage creams, bathing implements, air mattresses and other paraphernalia used on the premises. Read more