This is the single most common reason a trip to a hot spring goes wrong, and it is
worth understanding before you are standing at the front desk.
Why the rule exists
The ban is not about art. Tattoos in Japan carried an association with organised crime, and public
baths adopted blanket no-tattoo rules to keep that clientele out. The association has faded and the
rules have not kept pace, so you meet a policy written for somebody else.
Four ways around it
Book a room with its own bath. A room with a private open-air bath means you never enter a
shared space. It is the one option that always works, and it is why these rooms are worth the money
for a tattooed traveller.
Reserve a private bath. Many places have a 貸切風呂, a bath you
book by the hour for your group alone. Cheaper than a private-bath room, and widespread.
Cover it. Some places accept a skin-coloured patch over a small tattoo. This only works for
something the size of a coin or two.
Go where it is allowed. A growing number of towns and inns say tattoo-friendly outright.
Some regions are markedly more relaxed than others.
Ask before you pay
Policy is set per property, and it changes. The sentence that gets you a straight answer is:
入れ墨がありますが、入浴できますか？ — "I have a tattoo, may I bathe?" Ask when you book, not
when you arrive.
A private open-air bath in your own room removes the problem entirely.
In Japan these are called 露天風呂付き客室, and they are far more common
than most visitors realise.