Onsen and kaitai show make for a supremely satisfying combination.

There are a lot of things to love about being in Japan, but the delicious sushi and the relaxing hot springs are among the very best. So when we found out about a place that would let us enjoy both, plus give us some amazing views to look at while we soaked and basked in our food coma, we were on the next train down to Yokohama.

It’s about a 30-minute ride from downtown Tokyo to Yokohama’s Minato Mirai Station, and from there it’s about a five-minute walk to the entrance to Manyo Club. Manyo Club is actually a chain of hot spring facilities, with their Minato Mirai location trucking in natural hot spring water from the towns of Yugawara and Atami, farther down the coast.

▼ Manyo Club Minato Mirai entrance

The reason why we’d picked this particular branch of Manyo Club to visit was that on this day they were having an all-you-can-eat tuna sushi and sashimi special, and for maximum freshness, they were cutting up a whole giant tuna right there in the facility’s restaurant!

This sort of event, where a whole fish is prepared for use as sushi/sashimi in front of an audience, is called a kaitai show in Japanese restaurant jargon. While all guests of Manyo Club were welcome to watch the show, for an additional 4,500 yen (US$31) you could also eat as much tuna as you wanted. Only 10 slots were available for the all-you-can-eat promotion, but we were lucky enough to grab one.

According to the sushi chef and announcer for the kaitai show, the 27-kilogram (59.5-pound) tuna they were using is actually a little on the small side, but it still had a huge amount of presence laid out on a gigantic wooden cutting board. With deft, expert motions the chef began cleaning the fish and cutting it into mouthwatering crimson slabs.

The kaitai show started at 5 p.m. and lasted about 10 minutes. However, the all-you-can-eat meal didn’t begin until 6, so we took some time to check out the various hot spring baths, starting with the open-air foot bath with a view of the futuristic Minato Mirai skyline.

The foot bath is co-ed, while the full baths are separated into men’s and women’s areas, as are the saunas.

The outdoor sections are particularly nice, with views of Yokohama’s bay, which the Manyo Club building sits next to.

▼ You may remember Yokohama’s harbor from that time giant Pokémon appeared in the sky above it.

Now both very clean and very hungry, we headed back to the restaurant for our all-you-can-eat sushi meal.

Seeing the massive mounds of various cuts of tuna, such as standard akami and extra fatty chutoro, we felt a twinge of excitement.

For our first serving, we selected a tuna bowl and four pieces of nigiri-style sushi, two akami and two chutoro. From glancing at the restaurant’s menu, we knew that regularly the tuna bowl alone goes for 3,790 yen, two pieces of akami for 780 yen, and two pieces of chutoro for 980 yen, so already we were coming out ahead in terms of price by opting for the all-you-can-eat deal.

More importantly, though, everything tasted amazing, with the rich, creamy flavor of top-grade, immaculately fresh tuna.

Seeing as how this was a rare opportunity for both quantity and quality, we went back for two more bowls plus two plates of sashimi. We asked the chef if we could have a little extra chutoro in one of our bowls, and while they explained they couldn’t make us an all-chutoro bowl, they were still able to oblige us with some extra extra-fatty tuna.

The bowls were a little on the small side, but that actually turned out to be to our advantage. The pieces of tuna were cut thick and stacked deep enough that each bowl actually contained quite a lot of fish, but with less rice to fill us up, which left more room for, yep, more tuna!

When we finally stopped eating, we took one more nice long bath, and by that time the sun was going down and we got to watch as the lights of the neighboring skyscrapers came on.

Between our entrance fee to the facility and the all-you-can-eat plan, we spent a total of 7,550 yen at Manyo Club, but considering how immensely satisfying the experience was, we’ve got no regrets about splurging a little. The only source of sadness we have is that the kaitai show/all-you-can-eat plan is something Manyo Club does sporadically, with no set schedule. On the plus side, though, it’s not exclusive to the Minato Mirai branch, so we’ll just have to keep an eye on the Manyo Club website to see when, and where, the next one is going to be.

Related: Manyo Club official website, Manyo Club Minato Mirai
Photos ©SoraNews24
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