How do I use an onsen without getting it wrong?
You take your shoes off at the door, pay, and go through the curtain marked with your character — not the one on your usual side. You undress completely in the changing room, carry only the small towel in, and wash sitting down at a low shower until you are properly rinsed. Only then do you get in. The towel never touches the water.
The ritual, in order
From the front door to the water, in the order it happens
Shoes off at the entrance, then pay
There is a step up, a rack of wooden lockers or a shoe cubby, and a line on the floor you are not meant to cross in outdoor shoes. Pay at the desk or at a small ticket machine — the same kind used at ramen counters. Entry to a public onsen is usually ¥400–¥900.
Read the character on the curtain, not the position
男 is men. 女 is women. The two curtains swap sides at plenty of places, and many swap them daily so both sexes get both baths — so the side means nothing and the colour (often blue and red) is a convention, not a rule. Read the character every single time, including the second morning.
Undress completely in the changing room
Everything comes off and goes into a basket or a locker — underwear included. There are no swimsuits in an onsen, ever. Take nothing through the inner door except the small towel. Phones, watches and the big towel stay in the basket.
Sit at a low shower and wash properly
There is a row of taps at knee height with a plastic stool and a bowl. You sit on the stool — standing up to shower sprays the person next to you. Soap, wash, and then rinse until there is no foam left anywhere, including your feet and the stool. This is the part the whole system depends on.
Get in slowly, and keep the towel out of the water
The small towel goes on your head or on the stone at the edge. Long hair goes up in a tie. Do not swim, do not put your head under, and do not wash in the bath — the water is shared and is usually not chlorinated or filtered the way a pool is. Talk quietly or not at all.
Wring the small towel out and dry off before the curtain
Squeeze the towel, then wipe yourself down standing on the wet side of the door. Walking into the changing room dripping soaks the floor, the baskets and other people's clothes, and it is the thing regulars notice. Some baths rinse off after the water and some do not — mineral-heavy water is often left on the skin on purpose.
What they will ask you
Four things said at the desk, and what to say back
Almost all of this happens at the front desk before you have undressed anything. Once you are through the curtain nobody speaks to you at all.
| You’ll hear | It means | Say |
|---|---|---|
| 入れ墨はありますか？Irezumi wa arimasu ka? | Do you have a tattoo? | ありますArimasu — yes, I do |
| タオルは要りますか？Taoru wa irimasu ka? | Do you need a towel? | お願いしますOnegai shimasu — yes please |
| 何名様ですか？Nanmei-sama desu ka? | How many of you? | 一人ですHitori desu — just me |
| 初めてですか？Hajimete desu ka? | Is this your first time? | はい、初めてですHai, hajimete desu — yes, first time |
Tattoos
The tattoo question, answered honestly
This is why most people are reading this page, so here is the blunt version: a great many onsen still refuse tattooed guests, the refusal is polite and absolute, and it is not aimed at you personally. The rule dates from tattoos being read as organised-crime membership, and although that association has weakened, the sign on the door has often not changed with it. Sizes, styles and your nationality do not reliably change the answer.
In practice there are four outcomes and they are all common. Some places say yes without comment. Some say yes if the tattoo is covered — flesh-coloured cover-up stickers are sold in drugstores and at some front desks and work for anything up to roughly the size of a palm. Some say no. And an increasing number, particularly newer city bathhouses and places used to foreign guests, are explicitly tattoo-friendly and say so on their own website in English.
The reliable way round all of it is a private bath — 貸切風呂 (kashikiri-buro), booked by the hour, or a room at a ryokan with its own bath. Nobody asks about tattoos in a room you have to yourself. Expect roughly ¥2,000–¥5,000 for 45 to 60 minutes at a public bathhouse; at a ryokan it is often free but has to be reserved at check-in, sometimes the moment you arrive. If you have tattoos and one particular onsen matters to you, ask before you travel rather than at the door.
Don't get into the water before you are washed and rinsed, and don't bring a swimsuit — the bath is for soaking in, not for cleaning yourself in, and everyone shares the same water.
Practicalities
Money, towels, and what the rules actually cost you
Carry more cash than feels reasonable. Card acceptance is far better than it was, but ticket machines, small counters and IC-card top-ups are still routinely cash-only, and the reliable foreign-card ATMs are in convenience stores.
Budget small: entry to a neighbourhood sento is around ¥500–¥550 in Tokyo and is set by the prefecture rather than the owner, while a resort onsen day bath runs ¥800–¥1,500. A towel set is usually ¥100–¥300 to rent or ¥200–¥300 to buy, lockers often take a returnable ¥100 coin, and cover-up stickers are a few hundred yen a pack at any drugstore — the same shops covered on buying medicine in Japan. If you forget everything else, a convenience store sells a towel too; see the convenience store page.
Every ritual on this page is dated, and the cards carry the month they were checked. Japan changes these details more often than guidebooks admit — machines get replaced, charges get added, rules get relaxed.
Questions
The things people ask before they go through the curtain
I have a tattoo. What do I actually say?
Ask at the desk before you pay, with the card at the top of this page or the phrase tatū ga arimasu (タトゥーがあります) — I have a tattoo. You will get one of three answers: daijōbu desu (it is fine), kabā o onegai shimasu (please cover it), or mōshiwake arimasen (sorry, no). Asking first costs you thirty seconds; being turned round at the changing room costs a lot more.
Do cover-up stickers work?
For small tattoos, usually. They are sold at drugstores in packs for a few hundred yen and come in sheets of roughly 8 × 10 cm that you can layer. They do not work for a sleeve or a back piece, and the front desk makes the final call — a place that says kabā o onegai shimasu is telling you a sticker is enough, and a place that says no means no even with one on.
Can I wear a swimsuit if I am uncomfortable?
No. An onsen is bathing, not swimming, and a swimsuit in the water is treated the way outdoor shoes on a tatami floor would be. The exceptions are advertised as such: some mixed-bathing (混浴, konyoku) baths and spa resorts with pool areas require a swimsuit, and they will say so at the entrance. If nudity is the blocker, book a private kashikiri bath for 45 minutes instead.
How do I know which changing room is mine?
Only by the character. 男 (otoko) is men, 女 (onna) is women. Many baths swap the two rooms overnight so guests get both views, so the room you used at 9pm may be the other one at 7am. Blue and red curtains are a common convention and not a rule — read the character.
What is the small towel for?
Modesty while you walk, and drying off afterwards. It is about 34 × 80 cm, costs ¥200–¥300 to buy at the desk, and it goes on your head or on the edge of the bath once you are in. It must never go in the water — that is the one towel rule everybody enforces silently.
How long do I stay in the water?
Five to ten minutes at a time is normal, and most baths run 40–42°C, which is hotter than it looks. Get out, sit on the side, cool down, go back in. Onsen water dehydrates you, so drink something before and after — there is nearly always a vending machine by the exit selling water for around ¥130.
Is a sento the same thing as an onsen?
No. A sento (銭湯) is a neighbourhood public bath heated from the tap; an onsen (温泉) is legally defined by naturally hot mineral water from a source. The etiquette in both is identical, but the sento is cheaper — around ¥550 in Tokyo, a price set by the prefecture — and is a local facility rather than a destination.
Can I take my phone in for a photo?
No, and this is the one rule with no flexibility: no photos in the changing room or the bath, ever, even of an empty room, even of the view. Leave the phone in the locker with everything else. If you want a picture of a famous open-air bath, buy a postcard or book a private kashikiri bath where you are the only person in it.