Tonbo-no-yu — Attraction in Karuizawa

NOT TATTOO FRIENDLY. Tried to use this Onsen today but was turned away at the last second by staff once they saw my shoulder tattoo.

My Japanese girlfriend was translating for me initially, we were told that I would be allowed in with tattoos, but had to cover it up. “No problem” I thought, other onsens i have been to just told me to cover my tattoo with a towel until I actually got into the onsen. I had to pay extra to get what I would describe as “skin-covers”, about an extra 1,000 yen for 4 in total. I buy these items and the onsen ticket, and proceed to the locker room. I was informed that one of the staff members would have to apply the “skin-covers” to insure they stuck on. When I was ready, I approached a staff member, they take one look at my tattoo, and tell me in English “your tattoo too big for covers (the skin-covers were 2in x 2in stickers with a skin tone color) you can’t go into onsen”. I said “ok, thank you for letting me know”. I proceed to get dressed and leave the locker room. Once i am out, another staff member approached me, apologizing for the inconvenience and completely refunded me. I told them thank you and went on my way.

I would think that they would recognize that it is normal for foreigners to have tattoos or the monetary revenue that foreigners would bring in, but I’m not here to argue about that.

The staff was extremely courteous and friendly, and I was friendly and non-confrontational with them. They are welcoming as long as you don’t have...

An insulting and horrifying experience. My wife who is Japanese has tattoos but had covered them with the skin tone stickers. Since 2019 it is illegal for onsens to discriminate against guests. However, this onsen not only still has an internal rule that users can only have a maximum of 4 2-inch stickers ( which is rediculous and only revealed to us after we left the onsen and requested to see the manager), they visibly removed and insulted my wife and asked her impolitely to leave, making an example of her in front of other guests. No guests complained, there were no issues and it was at night, it was purely an overly aggressive staff member. Moreover in the process of removing her despite her objections, they separated her from our daughter and wouldn’t allow her to go get her (luckily she was with a family friend already inside). This reduced her to tears and absolutely ruined what should have been a wonderful evening after many hours of traveling. I would not recommend this onsen at all. Even trying to speak to the manager, I was deliberately made to wait in the cold and given a general info email. As a whole, an over priced and utterly unacceptable experience and I would suggest to avoid for far better more local onsens. I will be writing a letter of complaint to them and copying it to the ministry of cultural affairs especially given that Japan is about to open properly and this should be the perfect excuse for them to modernise their view rather than...

One of the most crowded onsen I've been to. We weren't planning on visiting the onsen, but had spent so much time outside that day that we needed to warm up and relax a bit. Bring all your gear, as the 1500 yen is only the entry fee, and doesn't include towel rental (300yen) or the bathing cloth. They don't supply makeup remover either (or someone had hidden it away while I was there). They have over a hundred lockers, in medium to large sizes. The baths were fancy, but they didn't have enough washing stations during a relatively off-season time, so I wonder how crowded it could get during peak season. The indoor bath is set to remain at 41°c, which I could only stand for ten minutes tops. The outside bath was more manageable, since it was a cooler day. There were little brown flakes floating in the water, which I hope are just minerals, but my partner is adamant that they are algae. It's nice, but like everything in this area, it is very expensive and...