"It's like doing yoga without the hard work," enthused my trendy friend, whose paradoxical nature — she's both lazy and obsessed with health — had led her to the latest popular massage to take Tokyo by storm: the traditional Thai massage.
It sounded ideal — it refreshes and soothes, it is calming but invigorating, it improves flexibility and burns energy without the pain of yanking limbs in impossible positions by yourself, a feat I had failed miserably at the few times I'd tried yoga. And anyway, it's a massage, so it can't be that painful, can it?
When I arrived at the Evergreen salon, a few minutes' walk from JR Shinjuku Station, I was greeted with healing music, mood lighting from lamps with paper shades and a cup of hot herbal tea. On the other side of linen curtains was a small room lit up in the same calming fashion, with a firm mattress on the floor.