Manyo Club is a new version of the sauna capsule hotel concept for a new, family friendly generation. This is a place you go to spend an entire day with the family away from the confines of your own small house. Bathing is not the main focus of this institution. Entrance includes a yukata and free access to a manga library, game room, lounge, TV chairs, movie theater, rooftop footbath. For extra fees there are restaurants, food stalls and massage services.
But this page is about the baths and you would expect that a place that costs over ¥2,000 to get in would have some pretty great baths! By now if you read this site you should know that it took me 3 years or so to try this place out was due to low expectations. The bathing area was small and had the minimum of baths to be considered supersento comparable. The mist sauna was tops I will say. All of the baths were well designed and the grated stone floor felt great on my feet. The spring water here is noticeable but it is shipped in and recycled so you will notice the chlorinating agents. Originally Manyo advertised that they had daily shipments of spring water from Wakayama. It appears they moved to a simple spring in Tojo, Central Hyogo.
In all the photos of this place they really push the rooftop footbath. Those photos are nothing like the real thing. I could not have been more disappointed with the view and facilities. The view is behind glass that could be cleaner while the facilities are jerry rigged into the roof of this building and design was very much an afterthought. Materials looks cheap and store bought while the rooftop machinery (somewhat cooler to look at than the view) peak through making you lose illusion of what they are trying to sell to you. It was a good idea and if it advertisements were more realistic to the reality I would have not been so strict in this review. Oh and there is like 50 steps up to the top from the elevator. This is not accessible to people with mobility issues without consulting the staff. If you come here check it out because the view of Kobe is awesome, but, that said, any view of Kobe is awesome.