Onsen Guide Japan
Goshonoyu (Kinosaki Onsen)

Onsen where the bath itself says tattoos are OK

Goshonoyu (Kinosaki Onsen) — Photo: MaedaAkihiko / CC0 / Wikimedia Commons

Twenty-two hot springs across Japan where the facility — not a third-party list — has said guests with tattoos may bathe, some only if the tattoo is covered.

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Most “tattoo-friendly onsen” lists online are compiled by third parties. When we checked them against the baths’ own statements, some were wrong — in one case a list said “conditional” while the bath’s own website said tattoos are refused.

This page lists only baths where the facility itself, or the office that runs it, has said that guests with tattoos may bathe. Each entry links to a detail page with the source.

Tattoos allowed

Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama (Ehime)

The three public baths below are run by Matsuyama City. The city’s Dogo Onsen office confirmed to us in writing in September 2026 that guests with tattoos may use them.

Beppu (Oita)

Beppu City runs its own English-language onsen site, Enjoy Onsen, and lists these municipal baths among the public baths that welcome guests with tattoos.

  • Takegawara Onsen — a historic bathhouse in central Beppu, about 10 minutes on foot from JR Beppu Station. Regular bath ¥300; hot sand bath ¥1,500.
  • Shibaseki Onsen — in the hills, with indoor and open-air baths, a steam bath and family baths. ¥300.
  • Kannawa Mushiyu — a steam bath in the Kannawa district. ¥700.

Kinosaki Onsen, Toyooka (Hyogo)

Kinosaki’s official tourism site says that all of the town’s public baths (soto-yu) allow tattoos of any size, with no need to cover them. Each costs ¥800, and a one-day pass for all of them (Yumepa) is ¥1,500.

Each bath closes one day a week (not all on the same day) — check the detail page.

Kusatsu Onsen (Gunma)

The operator of Kusatsu’s three main day baths says in its FAQ that guests with tattoos are not refused at any of them.

  • Sainokawara Open-Air Bath — one of the largest open-air baths in Japan. ¥800.
  • Goza-no-yu — facing Yubatake, the hot spring field at the centre of town. ¥900.
  • Otaki-no-yu — baths at different temperatures and an open-air bath with a waterfall. ¥1,200.

Hakone (Kanagawa)

  • Hakone Yuryo — a day-use hot spring 3 minutes by free shuttle bus from Hakone-Yumoto Station, with open-air baths and private open-air rooms. It lifted its tattoo restriction on 1 April 2025. From ¥1,700 on weekdays.

Kurama, Kyoto

  • Kurama Onsen — in the mountains north of central Kyoto, about 10 minutes on foot from Kurama Station (Eizan Railway), with a free shuttle bus. From ¥1,500.

Allowed if you cover the tattoo

What counts as “covered”, and how large a tattoo can be, differs by bath. Read the rule on the bath’s own page (linked from each detail page) before you go.

  • Mori no Yu at Hakone Kowakien Yunessun — Kowakudani, Hakone. The large bath area (not the swimsuit area). Since 1 October 2025, allowed if the tattoo can be fully covered with two of the bath’s own paid cover stickers. From ¥1,500.
  • Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club — Tokyo. A 24-hour bathing complex next to Toyosu Market, about 4 minutes on foot from Shijo-mae Station (Yurikamome). ¥3,850 including a yukata and towels, plus ¥150 bath tax.
  • Maenohara Onsen Saya-no-Yudokoro — Itabashi, Tokyo. A day-use hot spring with open-air baths. ¥970 on weekdays.
  • Solaniwa Onsen Osaka Bay Tower — right by Bentencho Station in Osaka. Towels and loungewear included. From ¥2,310.
  • Hyoe Koyokaku (Arima Onsen) — a ryokan in Kobe. No bath-only option: book a day-trip plan with a meal in advance.

Why so few?

Because we only add a bath when we can point to the facility’s own words. (One more Hakone bath, Tenzan Tohji-kyo, admits guests with tattoos only one at a time, so it is not listed above. In Tokyo, Thermae-yu Shinjuku lets male foreign tourists in with one sticker and a passport — see Tattoo-friendly onsen in Tokyo.) Third-party databases list far more, but we found them wrong often enough that we treat them as leads, not answers. For baths in the Kansai region where only a third-party list says yes — or where the bath says no — see Tattoo-friendly onsen near Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.

Policies change. Even for the baths on this page, check the facility’s page on the day you go. For background on why the rules exist and what the law says, see Tattoos and hot springs in Japan.