Tenteki 10

Tokyo’s latest health craze goes straight for the jugular

By Rebecca Milner

TOKYO —

Vitamin pills are so last century. For a glimpse of the modern face of supplements, look no further than Tenteki 10, a clinic specializing in intravenous body boosts than can be completed during your lunch hour—and still leave time for lunch.

“Tenteki” is the Japanese word for IV drip, while “10” refers to the number of minutes the needle sits in your arm as it administers a cocktail of vitamins and amino acids. The potent serum enters directly into the bloodstream, meaning that nutrients are absorbed immediately. It’s not a replacement for conventional medicine, but it can give your body added strength to fend off illness and exhaustion.

Since opening at Ebisu Garden Place in April 2008, Tenteki 10 has been featured in a number of women’s magazines, including AneCam and Elle Japon. The resultant buzz has meant that it currently sees 30 to 40 customers a day, over 60% of whom return for another round; a second clinic also recently opened in the ritzy Tokyo Midtown complex.

With no appointment necessary, I stopped by at the Ebisu branch on a weekday evening to see what all the fuss was about. Tenteki 10 is attached to the Ebisu Garden Place Clinic (i.e., a legitimate medical facility), and there’s a reassuring atmosphere of professionalism. A staff of nurses, official-looking forms (in Japanese), and a number of course options greeted me on my arrival.

The ¥2,000 basic pack, which includes vitamins B and C, addresses the most commonly communicated complaints: stress, fatigue and early cold symptoms. On top of that, clients can add any number of packs from the menu, including “power up” (color-coded red), “detox & diet” (yellow), “total beauty” (pink) and so on.

As I weighed my options, two youngish men in suits entered and promptly ordered the 7,500 yen “business pack,” a promotional combo designed to restore energy (so that overwork can continue, presumably). Considering the trendy wellness aspect of Tenteki 10, I’d expected the clientele to be mostly women, but in fact the clinic sees an equal number of male and female customers, typically in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

I eventually decided to try the most popular treatment, the “recovery from exhaustion & body maintenance” (blue) pack, which includes a quick-absorbing vitamin B1 derivative and tocopherol, a vitamin E-like compound. After I’d handed over my 5,000 yen, a nurse ushered me in for a brief interview with a doctor—standard procedure for initial visits, and optional (to the tune of 3,000 yen for 15 minutes) for subsequent ones.

Having passed the screening, I was offered an immediate seat at the counter—a sleek white surface partitioned into personal spaces—or a 10-minute wait for the more private sofa room. I opted for the latter, and a few minutes later found myself settling into a chocolate-brown armchair, complete with ottoman and blanket, while a nurse tightened a pink elastic band around my bicep. As she prodded my arm to locate a vein, I realized it wasn’t a coincidence that I’d been asked to pay first. But before I could utter a word of hesitation, the needle was in, the curtain drawn, and I was left to watch an apparently soothing montage of underwater scenes on the TV screen. Smooth and efficient, as promised.

Reactions apparently depend on the person: some feel a difference right away, others not so much. I can report experiencing an immediate buzz, which gradually increased. By mid-treatment, my fingers and toes—usually overlooked by my unenthusiastic circulatory system—were positively tingling, and my mouth, as the nurse had warned, tasted oddly garlicky.

As I mentally debated where exactly on the pleasant/unpleasant spectrum this particular experience fell, I noticed that my chronically stiff shoulders were also noticeably looser. By the time the nurse came to release me, I was feeling lighter and more limber—like I’d just ingested 5,000 yen worth of “genki” drinks, in fact. And all in less time than it would take to put away a single cappuccino. Treatment effects typically last for up to one week.

With summer just around the corner, Tenteki 10 recommends the blue and red packs for fighting heat exhaustion and the “concentrated skin whitening” pack for counteracting sun exposure. Please note that some Japanese ability is necessary, especially for the first visit.

Ebisu Garden Place branch: 4F Ebisu Garden Place Tower, 4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-5458-3128. Open daily 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. & 2-7 p.m. (medical exam not available Sat-Sun & hols). Nearest station: Ebisu.

Tokyo Midtown branch: 6F Midtown Tower, 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku. Tel: 03-5413-7913. Nearest station: Roppongi. Open daily 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. & 3-7 p.m. (medical exam not available Sat-Sun & hols).

This story originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

External Link:http://tenteki.jp

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Latest 15 of 38 Total Comments Show All

Bento at 06:09 PM JST - 3rd June

Inkarob..i take it you have chosen the steroid free route to muscular perfection,you did not specify directly. Currently i have an arm that is recovering from having a nurse stick a needle in a vein,she stuck it through the vein and into the bicep tendon(elbow end) underneath which is now inflamed,the hole in the reverse of the vein continued to leak for 4 days after the test,filling the tissues with blood.All perforating treatments should be undertaken only after the risks are understood.
gaijintraveller at 07:27 PM JST - 3rd June

Are the nurses working there real qualified nurses or are they in fact more like the girls in some bars, just wearing nurse costumes? What about the doctors? Are they qualified? If they are, they should be performing medically desirable treatment, not providing any treatment that will relieve the patient (customer might be a better term) of their money.

Most importantly, are the needles used new or properly sterilised? At this price they should certainly be new, but that doesn't mean that they are.

A tingling feeling in the toes and fingers can also be obtained, I have heard, by an overdose of fugu.
OneForAll at 07:33 PM JST - 3rd June

Imagine what a persons arm would look like going for lunch daily for a month. Might have to go for the jugular!
Starviking at 08:20 PM JST - 3rd June

Wow! JT do you ever vet the stuff you post? Such quackery!
BurakuminDes at 10:41 PM JST - 3rd June

...a few minutes later found myself settling into a chocolate-brown armchair, complete with ottoman and blanket, while a nurse tightened a pink elastic band around my bicep. As she prodded my arm to locate a vein, I realized it wasn’t a coincidence that I’d been asked to pay first. But before I could utter a word of hesitation, the needle was in, the curtain drawn, and I was left to watch an apparently soothing montage of underwater scenes on the TV screen...

In my country, we call these people smack-heads...
elbudamexicano at 04:43 AM JST - 4th June

Japanese work way too much, too much stress, too much BS! If you have a proper diet, proper excercise, proper sleep, avoid too much caffien and alcohol, you will have no need for these IV treatments, but these people devoting their entire lives to their companies, must see it as some kind of show of loyalty?? When will the natives here ever learn, take your time and actually enjoy life every day, not just once a year all drunk under the cherry blossoms.
helloklitty at 08:06 AM JST - 4th June

The hilarious part of this: you can get the same benefits and much more from eating the right foods!!!
ensnaturae at 05:15 PM JST - 4th June

Im always impressed by how many jp travellers sleep so peacefully, apparently on their way to or from work. Im impressed, too, by any culture that creates its eating habits as the absorbtion of required fuels/medications etc, rather than stoking up the boiler with 'stuff' that tastes ok. SO it doesnt surprise me much that there are jp extremists in the arts of eating and absorbing 'right'. And the kit with which to administer it. Loyalty to company often looks tragic, to me, since it appears to encourage some of the most bitter infighting I have seen anywhere, all in the best possible taste, of course. (Worse still - appears any slavish affection from women for 'bosses')
nandakandamanda at 05:47 PM JST - 4th June

Quote from WilliB: "It seems to me he had. He should have done that the the next day by way of comparison."

He's a She, WilliB.

And it looks like she was had,... hahaha... about to order the 2,000 yen pack I expect, and "As I weighed my options, two youngish men in suits entered and promptly ordered the 7,500 yen business pack," so she went for the 5,000 JPY course. I bet they send the same two businessmen through each time!
kirakira25 at 05:51 PM JST - 4th June

In my country, we call these people smack-heads...

That just made my morning!!! Thank you! :)
TheGeneral at 01:24 PM JST - 5th June

This is just stupid.

Drink water and eat nutritional meals.

A sucker's born every minute . . .
tokyocrawler at 11:59 PM JST - 5th June

the scary thing is that OLS will see it as a way to diet..no need to eat! just plug in 3 times a week.....

human anatomy is carefully designed and the digestive process from the point of smelling food, muclse contaction of the jaw muscles to enzyme release ,movement of the stomach and intestines to its end is linked to many other body rhythms..brain waves, sleep etc.....

ok maybe once a month maybe...but yeah, just one slip up and some mislabelling mishap and the biz will collapse overnight!
realist at 01:06 AM JST - 7th June

This society gets sicker and sicker with each passing day, and this bizarre "clinic" is yet another exammple of the wierdness of Japan.
gogogo at 02:18 PM JST - 9th June

AVOID: a former boss of mine went to one of these and caught Hepatitis A
Himajin at 12:19 AM JST - 17th June

Hep A comes from shellfish, many times raw oysters.