In the early nineties a surprise recession hit Japan and many middle-priced soaplands hit the skids and had to offer bargain washes and become what is known today as a kakuyasu sōpu (bargain soap). The prices of the most successful and exclusive of Tokyo's 257 soaplands, however, have not been affected by the recession and have continued to rise unhampered. In Yoshiwara, Tokyo's ancient red-light district; there are no fewer than 80 luxury soaplands that do not wash their clients for less than $450. The soap ladies there are models between jobs and triple-X video stars, and the bath areas in which they wash their customers have extra bedrooms, living rooms, and private bar facilities in which regulars can keep their own whiskey bottles. Clients can arrive and leave in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes, unless they specifically request something more discreet like a Toyota. While the cheap soapland hands out loud business cards, often pink in color with beckoning naked women, a classy establishment will sport the logo of a reputable bank, with the woman's name subtitled with "Section Chief or "International Representative."
Tokyo's most expensive soapland is Shangrila, where the two-hour specials start at $750. A few streets down Saten Doru (Satin Doll), Kurabu Enjoi (Club Enjoy), and Mink start at $700, while Gurando Kanyon (Grand Canyon) and Ginbasha (Silver Carriage) are a close third at $650. Business has been so steady at these cream-of-the-crop establishments that a new super-chic soapland, Maharaja Tokyo, opened with a flourish in Tokyo's Yoshiwara on New Year's Day 1993, offering a special two-hour wash for $550. The red-light crowd was stunned that a place of such grand proportions would dare to set up shop right in the middle of Japan's darkest recession in years—and that within walking distance of Yoshiwara's other 160 soaplands.
All soaplands, rich and poor, have had to extend their service menus. There is no limit to the extremes a modern hard-line soap lady will go to titillate her client—the more imaginative and delicate her touch, the more money she can extract from her client. From northern Hokkaido to southern Okinawa, soap ladies are encouraged to come up with new specialties, using tongues, breasts, knees, and toes in ever more creative ways. Like any other Japanese employer, the soapland is quick to spot good workers who throw themselves into their jobs, and dexterous women are given quick promotions and incentives like better "private rooms" and the highly fought-over titles of "Senior Soap Lady" and "Number One Body-Washer."
Soaplands increasingly present their massage-and-wash extravaganzas with the fanfare of an elite restaurant displaying its prized dishes. There is a growing trend to equate a delicate palate with delicate physical sensations. Sex-massages and body-washes appear under titles like furu kōsu (full course) or osupe (special, as in "special of the day"), sometimes coming out even more mysteriously as sanshoku sushi (triple-combo sushi) or osashimi moriawase (sashimi deluxe). Massage menus offer the customer the choice of a range of services that become progressively more expensive the more outlandish they are. The basic prix fixe bath fee averages $100 to $300, depending on the elegance and location of the establishment. For this price the customer is bathed in a tub, and then rubbed down from head to foot while he lies naked on an inflated rubber mattress. If the client is interested in a more venturesome massage— including extras such as fellatio, cunnilingus, anal stimulation, or sex—it will add anywhere from $300 to $500 to the bill.
All the services offered in the soaplands are camouflaged in the guise of "we are washing the customer." Over the years, establishments throughout the country have contributed their own special brands of sex-massage and intercourse supesharu (specials), and have titled them with upbeat suffixes such as play, game, dance, and wash.
Turkish baths, and then later soaplands, were always fiercely competitive among themselves. Each establishment has its dai (trainer) whose job it is to keep the soap ladies' technique up to scratch. When a particular place becomes an overnight success, with lines at the door and the parking lot overflowing, rival soaplands instantly send out their dai on a spying mission to report on any innovative items on the opponent's menu. The result has been that daringly novel "washes" that had drawn clients to new establishments in places like Kanagawa or Tochigi are now available in all soaplands.
The basic soapland service is bodii arai (body wash), in which the soap lady cleans and scrubs the customer, first in the tub then on the mat, until he climaxes. Another basic is awa odori (foam dance). In this special wash, the woman pours lotions and creams all over her body and then rubs and "dances" her client to orgasm. In some soaplands this is also known as shabon dansu (soap dance). The most popular item on the menu is the furu kōsu (full course): a body wash which escalates into a foam dance, followed by an optional body-lick where the client is licked from head to toe, with sexual intercourse as the grand finale.
THE SOAPLAND MENU
ANARU ZEME—Anal Attack
In this type of attack the client's anus is stimulated by massage, fingering, or licking. In some soaplands it can also be used to refer to anal sex, with the customer "attacking" the soap lady.
Other soapland synonyms for anal massage are the fashionable wan-wan sutairu, literally the "woof-woof," or what we may call doggie style; bakon bakon (bang bang); and the facetiously circumspect yoko kara semeru (conquering from the side).
When a customer wishes to sodomize a soap lady in one of the more luxurious soaplands, the poetic and elegantly evasive term used is ichi notani (the first valley—the second valley being the vagina).
CHIJŌ KIMMU-—Ground Servicing
After the customary wash and rub in the bath, the soap lady and her client proceed to the "ground." The girl lies on the mat naked and the customer climbs into a missionary position on top of her.
The other related program is kūchū kimmu (aerial servicing), in which the man lies on his back, with the soap lady approaching him from the top.
CHIN ARM—Penile Wash
Soaplands offer two types of penile wash. In some cases it refers to the soap lady cautiously washing and inspecting the client's organ before she fellates it. In a more luxuriant version the customer relaxes in the bathtub while the woman repeatedly lathers his organ to orgasm.
DABURU—Double
In most soapland services the girl does all the work, while the client lies passively. In daburu, from the English word "double," the customer is allowed (for a higher price) to reciprocate the licking while he is being fellated. This is also known as daburu supesharu (double special), daburu supesharu sābisu (double special service), daburu gēmu (double game), and daburu purē (double play). Some soaplands also offer their "sixty-nine" programs under the title of sakasa daburu (upside-down double) or sakasa bodii (upside-down body), which is short for "upside-down body-wash."
An inspired variation on these games and washes is the daburu tengu. Daburu refers to the standard sixty-nine position, while tengu is a fearsome Japanese forest goblin who has a large red penis-like nose. The client wears the long-nosed tengu mask provided by the establishment, and while the soap lady fellates him, he uses it to dildo her.
DAISHARIN ASOBI—Big Wheel Game
The soap lady lies naked on top of her client and stimulates him by slowly moving over him like a wheel, so that he gets to feel and lick the various parts of her body as they cross over his face. A variation of this, also known as daisharin (big wheel), is when the client and the girl, one lying on the other, move in opposite directions like two wheels.
Another popular and