Review: Darling Harbour in Tokyo, Japan

Several weeks ago I wrote a post on foreigner friendly soaplands in Tokyo. That post was made with information shared by a Japanese fellow named Ryuji who has set up a website of his own. Some commented on the rather high rates at the shops mentioned in that post. Soaplands are not inexpensive places, but there are quite a few that charge less than places like Don Juan. One of those is Darling Harbour in the Yoshiwara area of Tokyo.

While the Yoshiwara pleasure district is filled with soaplands the reality is that many of them simply will not accept foreign customers, especially if they cannot speak Japanese. That is not the case at Darling Harbour, which not only accepts gaijin but warmly welcomes them inside.

Darling Harbour soapland

Darling Harbour isn’t out of the way by any means, but it’s not difficult to get confused on the way. The first time I tried to find the place I ended up around the corner. Unable to locate it I finally asked the doorman at another soapland who was very happy to walk me there himself. It’s hard to beat that kind of service.

Darling Harbour has an open door with a place just inside for customers to remove their shoes and put on a pair of house slippers. These slippers are incredibly tiny and make any attempt at walking into the place with confidence a guaranteed failure. The addition of stairs into the equation make things even more fun.

There are a number of Japanese guys at the front of the shop, all dressed in black suits. One of these guys can speak a tiny bit of English, which happens to be just enough to get things rolling easily. Once the customer is shown to a small room off to the side they will be shown photos of the women available at the time.

Women at Darling Harbour

There is never a huge spread in my experience, with two or three being the norm. Not a whole lot can be told from these photos but on the bright side all of the ladies who work at Darling Harbour seem to be at least acceptable in the looks department, though most appear to be approaching or even over the age of 30. The customer will also be asked to select a course, with the 70 minute set for 29,800 Yen (291.50 USD) being the most popular for foreigners. A big plus is there doesn’t seem to be any gaijin tax.

After a customer chooses a masseuse and a session length they will have to wait a few minutes in the aforementioned room. When the lady of the hour is ready she will come downstairs and pick up her gentleman caller. Up some even more difficult to climb stairs sites the washrooms where all of the fun takes place.

In the room

Upon entering the room the customer will be asked for a drink order. The refreshment is free so no worries there. Once it arrives, it’ll be brought into the room by the gal who will then attempt a little small talk before undressing her client. The client will then be invited to undress the service provider.

Once everyone is stripped down, a bath filled with some kind of iodine will be drawn and the wash area will be prepared. The masseuse will then invite the client over to sit down on the open-bottom stool where she will scrub him down from top to bottom, including quite a bit of time on the old poop shoot. As resistant as the customer may be, the gals will definitely attempt a little entry, though the reasons for all of this become clear later.

After the soap down and rinse off, the customer will be guided into the bath. The masseuse will join soon after. This is the time things like body and breast rubbing take place. Once that bit of fun is over, the service provider will slide her hands under the customer’s backside to lift his twig out of the water. Once the little sprout is out in the fresh air it will be engulfed for a short while before being gently guided back into the waiting waters below.

With the customer waiting in the bathtub the masseuse will then break out the big silver air mattress and begin to rinse it down and lather it up with slick nuru nuru gel. Once that is all done, the customer will be guided out of the tub and face down onto the mattress. This is when the body slide will begin.

Soapy massage service

The nuru slide is the key feature of the soapland in my opinion. It is the thing that sets this sort of place apart from all of the others (apart from the full service, which is a bit tough to find in Japan). At Darling Harbour the masseuse are well trained at the art of the body to body massage and will spend a lot of time sliding around, rubbing, sucking toes and licking asshole with real dedication. With that said, they can be a bit mechanical about it all. That’s understandable considering the nature of the job, but it still does take away a little something.

Once the customer is thoroughly lubed, rubbed and licked, they will be flipped over for a bit more of the same with the addition of some kissing. That will quickly transition into a decent dose of uncovered oral service. At some point during the mouth work, a condom will be applied with some degree of discretion, possibly even with the use of the mouth itself (something which is usually done with perfection in Korean massage parlors). What happens next should be pretty easy to figure out. There’s not much to comment on except to say that the staff knows how to get the job done, even if individual members have their own ways of doing it.

Conclusion

Once the mission is a success, the drained customer will be put back in the tub to soak. They will also be given some brown medicinal liquid to wash their mouth out with while the masseuse cleans up the mess left by the mat play. The bath will be concluded by another rinse and a move over to the dry massage table bed.

On the bed a perfunctory massage is performed which is certainly nothing to write home about. This is the time a bit of small talk may be entered into as well, though that depends on the situation. The body rub portion will last until time is about up, at which point the masseuse will help dress her client before guiding him back downstairs.

Once downstairs the customer will be guided to another waiting room with walls covered by pictures of various soapland ladies. The English-speaking male staff member will return and ask which of three nearby train stations the customer would like to be driven to. Once a choice is made, the customer is spirited off to a van, driven to his destination and bid a found farewell.

Soaplands offer the easiest and most straightforward way to get full service from a Japanese woman in Japan. Darling Harbour is one of the most accessible soaplands in Japan for foreign visitors. There isn’t really anything wrong with the place, but there isn’t anything special about it either. Considering the price and comparing it to what else is available both locally and internationally, I can’t really justify giving the place more than an average score of two-and-a-half stars. It is what it is.

Darling Harbour. 4 Chome-17-20 Senzoku, Taito City, Tokyo, Japan. Click here for a map. Open every day from sunrise to sunset. Website: https://darling-h.com