Temomin

An hour long back massage at Temomin (just $ 60 with my student discount) is usually just what I need after a week of work in the Valley. It’s conveniently located at the train station so I can go in on the way home and they do really good massages considering how cheap they are. If you only have 15 minutes before your train you can go in for a quick 10 minute neck and shoulder massage for only $ 10.

Despite already going to a great place when I need a massage for a sore neck and shoulders (see Spring Hill Physio), sometimes when I’ve been shopping around the Valley all day or if I’m passing Valley Metro I’ll stop at Temomin for one of their ten minute massages. They offer quick, cheap-​ish ($ 13) relief from tense muscles, and even if the relief isn’t as long-​lasting as if you have a proper, table massage, it’ll do the trick until you get home and unwind.
At Temomin, massages shorter than thirty minutes are chair massages, rather than table massages where you lie down. The chairs are those crazy looking massage chairs that I always feel like a tool climbing onto. You have your face in the face holder thingy, with a single-​use paper towel-​ish thing between your skin and the chair. When they massage you, they do it with another paper towel thing between their hands and your neck which kind of puts a damper on the whole thing because it is a bit scratchy. Whenever my massage is over and I pull my face out of the face-​rest, the paper towel always sticks to my face and I feel like a jerk, but I guess it’s worth it for a quick massage.
I can’t comment on the longer, table massages at Temomin, but the chair massages are decent enough. Sure, they’re a little bit scratchy, and ten minutes sure goes fast, but if your shoulders are sore from too much shopping, a quick shiatsu at Temomin will keep you going. I always wonder if the name Temomin is a Japanese word, because whenever I see it all I think of is someone getting a ten minute massage and when it’s over saying ‘ten more minutes’ but being muffled by the face-​rest/​paper towel/​massage-​induced trance so it comes out ‘temomin’. I should ask them sometime, but they probably already think I’m a weirdo with a paper towel stuck to my face.