{"id":16635,"date":"2026-05-04T03:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/16635\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T03:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:45:15","slug":"a-relaxing-soak-at-tattoo-friendly-tsurutsuru-onsen-in-hinode-nishitama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/16635\/","title":{"rendered":"A relaxing soak at tattoo-friendly Tsurutsuru Onsen in Hinode, Nishitama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Tsurutsuru<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tTsurutsuru Onsen (Photo by Luis Samayoa\/Stripes Japan)
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Without a weekend plan, I decided to soak away my worries at a tattoo-friendly onsen nearby.<\/p>\n

Tsurutsuru Onsen in Hinode is only a 40-minute drive from Yokota Air Base. The area is nature spot known for its hiking, fishing and other related activities, so if you\u2019re an outdoorsy person, this might be a good place to visit. <\/p>\n

Before heading to the onsen, it took some research through online reviews and bad translating to figure out if it was in fact okay for tattooed people like me. There seemed to be a mixed consensus, so I decided just to find out in person. <\/p>\n

Calling the onsen is another option if you have a friend that speaks Japanese. <\/p>\n

When I arrived at my destination, I found that parking is free and there\u2019s plenty of space. I was a bit nervous since my tattoos limit me to enjoy these types of facilities in Japan, so I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Contrary to my expectation, I was greeted and welcomed in after paying a small entrance fee of 960 yen (about $6). I asked if tattoos were okay before paying and they said, \u201cdaijobudesu\u201d (it\u2019s okay). There were no issues at all. I didn\u2019t even have to cover them up. <\/p>\n

The facilities in the men\u2019s locker room were very clean and looked modern. I undressed and prepared to enter the bathing area where one large pool, a sauna, cold plunge pool and two outdoor hot springs were available to soak in. <\/p>\n

The onsen doesn\u2019t offer private baths, so both the men and women\u2019s sections are public baths open to use freely. <\/p>\n

Tsurutsuru\u2019s bath water has a lotion-like texture due to the PH levels, which was very soothing to my skin compared to other onsens and sentos I have visited in the past. This was the real deal. <\/p>\n

My favorite soaking area was outside on the terrace, which had a view of the surrounding forest. While my body relaxed in the water, being surrounded by nature also helped my mind relax, too. I spent about an hour and a half enjoying the outside section of the onsen. <\/p>\n

Having tattoos can be very limiting in Japan if you\u2019re trying to enjoy the hot spring culture. Fortunalety, Tsurutsuru Onsen is close enough to where I live and the reasonably priced entrance means I\u2019d definitely recommend this onsen for a relaxing and inexpensive activity.<\/p>\n

Things to know<\/p>\n

Address: 4718 Oguno, Hinode, Nishitama District, Tokyo 190-0181 <\/p>\n

Hours: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., 7 days a week. Last entrance 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Website<\/a>\u00a0(Japanese only)<\/p>\n

*Card and yen are accepted.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Tsurutsuru<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tTsurutsuru Onsen lobby (Photo by Luis Samayoa\/Stripes Japan)
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tsurutsuru Onsen (Photo by Luis Samayoa\/Stripes Japan) Without a weekend plan, I decided to soak away my worries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13315,6939,1923,13310,1373,8,13311,1519,13314,13313,13312,52,13309,13316],"class_list":["post-16635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tokyo","tag-bathing","tag-fishing","tag-hiking","tag-hinode","tag-hot-springs","tag-japan","tag-nishitama","tag-onsen","tag-outdoor-activities","tag-soak","tag-tattoo-friendly","tag-tokyo","tag-tsurutsuru-onsen","tag-western-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}