Tuesday, 7 p.m., Ikebukuro West Exit
The Tuesday after a three-day weekend, Ikebukuro feels hungover. The West Exit plaza is all commuters and students, the love-hotel strip north of the station has VACANCY lit on every other sign, and the after-work crowd along Romanesque Street hasn't really turned up yet. It's a good night to book something that comes to you.
Inran Chijo Esute is an outcall chijo-esthe: an oil-massage service where the therapist plays the aggressor (chijo roughly means "forward woman"), and you mostly lie there and take it. The Ikebukuro branch is listed under Ikebukuro North/West Exit, phone 03-6914-2294, open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Nobody walks into a storefront. You pick a hotel, call, and a therapist shows up.
I had two browser tabs open on my phone. One was the shop's own Japanese site, inranchijoesute.com. The other was its English listing on yoasobi-heaven.com, Cityheaven's inbound-tourist sister site, which advertises the shop as "Foreign visitors are welcome" and says it has staff who can speak English, Chinese and Korean. Same shop, same phone network, same women. I started comparing the two out of habit. Twenty minutes later I was still doing it.
The Japanese Menu
This is the menu on the shop's own price page. Every price is listed as tax-included, and right now every line shows a crossed-out list price and a "new customer campaign" price:
Standard Chijo Esthe course. Oil massage, erotic massage, body wash, full nudity, full-body kissing, light touching of the therapist and a hand finish.
- 50 min: ¥17,000 → ¥14,000
- 70 min: ¥21,000 → ¥17,000
- 90 min: ¥25,000 → ¥21,000
- 120 min: ¥32,000 → ¥28,000
- 150 min: ¥38,000 → ¥34,000
- 180 min: ¥50,000 → ¥44,000
Premium Inran Chijo Esthe course. Everything in the Standard, plus deep kissing, unprotected oral and touching her erogenous zones. The page says any health-style play the therapist accepts is allowed.
- 50 min: ¥19,000 → ¥17,000
- 70 min: ¥24,000 → ¥20,000
- 90 min: ¥30,000 → ¥26,000
- 120 min: ¥37,000 → ¥33,000
- 150 min: ¥47,000 → ¥43,000
- 180 min: ¥57,000 → ¥53,000
A photo nomination is ¥1,000 and a repeat nomination is ¥2,000. There's also a prostate course (100 min ¥26,000 to 180 min ¥46,000, with the toys included), a 3P menu that tops out at ¥110,000, and an overnight "charter" for ¥500,000 and up, which I'm only mentioning because it's on the page.
The English Menu
Now the yoasobi-heaven page. There is no Standard course on it. The English menu starts at Premium:
Premium Course - 70 min: ¥37,000 - 90 min: ¥45,000 - 120 min: ¥55,000 - 150 min: ¥68,000 - 180 min: ¥81,000
The second English course, "Ultimate Relaxation," is the Premium plus the thick oil ("Ultimate Liquid"), a micro-bikini, a masturbation sleeve and knee-highs. It costs ¥47,000 for 70 minutes, ¥55,000 for 90 and up to ¥91,000 for 180. Nomination fees are the same as in Japanese, ¥1,000 and ¥2,000. That's the only line on the two menus that matches.
The Same Hour, Side by Side
Here's the Premium course on both menus:
| Premium course | Japanese list | Japanese new-customer | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70 min | ¥24,000 | ¥20,000 | ¥37,000 |
| 90 min | ¥30,000 | ¥26,000 | ¥45,000 |
| 120 min | ¥37,000 | ¥33,000 | ¥55,000 |
| 180 min | ¥57,000 | ¥53,000 | ¥81,000 |
Against the Japanese list price, the English menu runs about 1.4x to 1.5x. Against the new-customer price most first-timers pay in Japanese, 90 minutes costs ¥19,000 more in English. That's the price of a second, shorter session.
The bundle shows the same pattern. Price the "Ultimate Relaxation" contents from the Japanese option list: Premium 70 at ¥24,000, plus gokueki+ (the thick oil with a micro-bikini) at ¥2,000, a masturbation sleeve at ¥2,000 and knee-highs at ¥1,000. That comes to ¥29,000 at list price. The English bundle is ¥47,000.
Options: Exactly Double
The option lists are where the pattern is easiest to see, because it's so regular. Every English option costs twice the Japanese one:
- Thick oil (gokueki): ¥1,000 → ¥2,000
- Anal licking, face licking, toe licking, costume, cuffs, photo (no face): ¥1,000 → ¥2,000 each
- Double oil, gokueki+ (with micro-bikini), prostate massage, watching her masturbate: ¥2,000 → ¥4,000
- Gokueki Special (with lotion bath and micro-bikini), electric massager: ¥3,000 → ¥6,000
The shop's "Ultimate Testicle Massage" add-on is the same story. The Japanese event page sells it for +¥3,000 on courses of 90 minutes or more, and it includes ten extra minutes. In English it costs ¥6,000.
Extensions: Four Times
This is the line I'd circle. The English page charges ¥12,000 per 10-minute extension, on every course. The Japanese pages don't list an extension price on the price table, but the review-discount event spells it out: "normally, adding 10 minutes costs ¥3,000." So the English rate is four times the Japanese one.
That changes how you should book. On the English menu, adding ten minutes costs more than the whole difference between the 70- and 90-minute courses (¥8,000). So don't plan on extending. Book the longer course from the start.
Transport: A Different Map
The two menus also charge different amounts to reach you:
- Japanese: free around Ikebukuro North Exit; ¥1,000 for Toshima and Itabashi within 3 km; ¥2,000 for Shinjuku, Bunkyo, Itabashi, Nerima, Kita and Nakano wards; ¥3,000 for anywhere more than 5 km from Ikebukuro.
- English: free at Ikebukuro North and West Exits; ¥2,000 for hotels elsewhere in Ikebukuro and near Otsuka and Sugamo; ¥3,000 for Nakano, Taito, Bunkyo and Shinjuku; ¥4,000 for Nerima, Suginami, Shibuya, Chiyoda and Adachi; ¥5,000 for Minato, Chuo, Meguro and Sumida; ¥6,000 and up for Shinagawa, Koto and Ota.
If you're staying at a Shinjuku business hotel, that's ¥2,000 vs ¥3,000. In Roppongi or Ginza it's ¥3,000 vs ¥5,000. The English map isn't crazy, since it's just more finely graded. But it's still another line where the English menu costs more.
What the Japanese Side Also Gets
On top of the base menu, the Japanese pages offer a stack of discounts the English page doesn't mention. Most of them are unlocked by saying a phrase on the phone in Japanese:
- "Super Deli-wari." Book a free (no-nomination) therapist or one of the day's "pickup" casts and you get transport-included pricing anywhere in the 23 wards, at love hotels, homes or business hotels: Standard 90 min ¥22,000, 120 min ¥29,000, 150 min ¥35,000; Premium 90 min ¥27,000, 120 min ¥34,000, 150 min ¥44,000. Tonight's pickups were three names on the coupon page.
- The newcomer discount. Standard 100 min ¥20,000, Premium 100 min ¥25,000, with a list of 18 new therapists. The coupon's fine print adds that you have to post a review the same day, and that repeat nominations don't qualify.
- The "Great Rebate" coupon. ¥4,000 off your first visit, then ¥3,000 off the second and ¥3,000 off the third, each within a month of the last. It doesn't stack and excludes 50-minute courses, even though the price page shows a discounted 50-minute price.
- The review discount. Post a review the same day and get ten free minutes. The event gives 80 min for ¥17,000 and 100 min for ¥21,000 as examples.
- Web points. Book through Cityheaven's web booking and get 5% back in points, usable 3,000 points per visit.
- October's "Wet-and-See-Through Festival" (October 1 to November 3): +¥3,000 on any course for a random see-through costume and unlimited thick oil. If you quote the password from a therapist's photo diary, posted the day before, when you book ahead, you also get one paid option worth up to ¥2,000 free.
The catch for anyone working in English: most of these are applied over the phone, and two of them depend on reading Japanese, either a photo-diary post or the review template.
How I Actually Booked
My hotel was a short walk north of the station, inside the free-transport zone on both menus. So the math came down to the course price.
In Japanese, a first-timer's Premium 90 costs ¥26,000 with the new-customer price, with no transport fee this close to the station. The "Super Deli-wari" Premium 90 is ¥27,000, transport included, so it's a thousand yen worse here. It only wins once you're far enough out that transport costs ¥2,000 or more, for example in Shinjuku or further. The same logic holds for the Standard course: ¥21,000 near the station vs. ¥22,000 with the Deli-wari.
The English menu for the same 90 minutes: ¥45,000.
I made the call in Japanese, asked for a free booking on the Premium 90, and said it was my first time. The person on the phone confirmed the hotel and quoted the new-customer rate without any fuss. I asked whether the review discount stacks with the new-customer price, since the pages don't say. Ask that yourself; don't assume it. The board had several therapists listed as "waiting now" since around noon, so the wait was short.
The session itself was what the Premium description promises. She led, she talked, and she ran the clock without me watching it. A chijo shop lives or dies on whether the therapist commits to the role, and that's not something a price list can tell you either way. What I can tell you is that it was a 90-minute session, and in Japanese it cost ¥26,000.
Who the English Menu Is Actually For
To be fair to the shop, the English page offers something real. Booking is in English, and the yoasobi-heaven page says it has staff who speak English, Chinese and Korean. The Japanese side's best prices depend on phone phrases, same-day reviews and diary passwords, which are hard to use without Japanese. The English page also lists its house rules plainly: no requests for intercourse, a shower is mandatory, no photos, no personal contact exchange, and the therapist leaves when the time is up. That's useful.
But the gap isn't a small concierge fee. It's 1.5x on courses, 2x on options and 4x on extensions. If you can get through a short Japanese phone call (shop name, hotel name, course length, "first time"), you pay the Japanese price. If you can't, then now you know what the English rate covers, and why it's especially important not to extend at ¥12,000 per ten minutes.
The Practical Stuff
- Shop: Inran Chijo Esute, Ikebukuro branch, outcall chijo-esthe (Ikebukuro North/West Exit listing)
- Phone: 03-6914-2294. Hours: 10:00–5:00
- Japanese Premium 90: ¥30,000 list / ¥26,000 new customer / ¥27,000 "Super Deli-wari" (transport included, 23 wards)
- English Premium 90: ¥45,000, with a ¥12,000 10-minute extension
- Nomination: ¥1,000 (photo) / ¥2,000 (repeat), the same on both menus
- Free transport: around Ikebukuro North Exit on both menus (the English map adds the West Exit)
- Ages on today's board: 20 to 33
The Verdict
The Ikebukuro branch runs a busy roster, open until 5 a.m., with a menu as deep as any chijo-esthe in Tokyo. The Japanese price list is fair for what's offered, and the campaigns make it cheaper still. The English list is a different product at a different price, and nothing on it tells you there's a cheaper version of the same hour. Now you know. Book the long course upfront, ignore the ¥12,000 extension, and if you can manage a 30-second phone call in Japanese, make it.