Osaka Health Spa is something of a New York landmark. According to their promotional materials, they are the original Shiatsu and Acupressure center of the USA - having been in business since 1970 and served customers ranging from Ronald Reagan to Gwyneth Paltrow.  However, the location that I visited, at 50 W. 56th St., had the feeling of a 1970’s hotel that was once famous and has since gone in to disrepair, with the who’s who choosing newer and swankier businesses — and for good reason.

Osaka is certainly a serious, no- frills health center, devoted to traditional Shiatsu, including the hot-cold sauna to ice water cycle that one is supposed to do at least 3 times before the massage commences. A family-run business, the walls of the sauna and steam room are decorated with hand-written posters, with indecipherable instructions (”be desensitize,” “spill finding epileptic seizure,” “feed back brain” etc.) and my time in the sauna was interrupted by the paterfamilias - an MD from Korea, coming in to readjust me and give me pointers, all made more difficult by a significant language barrier

I have no problems with a spa focusing on serious treatment as opposed to luxury and comfort, but Osaka pays far to little attention to the aesthetic quality of the environment.  The sauna and steam room were both less than clean and neither of them reached a consistently satisfactory level of heat.  The general surroundings were cramped and cluttered, with a small changing room stocked with standard Duane-Reade cosmetic products.

Even though I had mentioned, when I arrived, that my time was limited I was made to wait at least 15 minutes in the dingy office/lobby before I was taken through, and was then shuttled back and forth from sauna to cold bath for the majority of my time there (I spent almost 2 hours at Osaka: 20 minutes waiting, an hour doing hot/cold and about 30 minutes on the massage table).  After the sauna I was brought to a small massage room and placed on a massage table.

The massage itself was quite good, including traditional acupressure, some joint manipulation and also the masseuse massaging me with her feet, walking on my back using beams in the ceiling. It was a very deep massage, and firm, but sadly rushed (as by that time I had been in the sauna/steam room for an hour!). This is, however, a very strong and intense treatment, and I would warn anyone who has physical issues or spots that need to be treated gently that the masseuse, though very good, was not at all responsive to my requests that she hold back on my injured shoulder.  All in all, I would not recommend Osaka as, although it offers a high-quality Shiatsu massage, the dull surroundings and unfamiliarity of the procedure are exacerbated by limited personal attention that results in one feeling distinctly lost.