Bessho Onsen, just by Bessho-Onsen Station Day-use public bathhouse (city-run)

Aisome-no-yu

別所温泉相染閣あいそめの湯

Does Aisome-no-yu allow tattoos? Yes!

Nothing to cover

Ueda City’s own bathhouse, a short walk from the last stop on the Bessho line, has an open-air bath looking out over the city, and its FAQ answers the tattoo question with a plain yes.

No restriction. The bath’s own FAQ puts the question plainly, whether you can bathe with a tattoo or irezumi, and answers that you can. No seal, size limit or declaration is mentioned. This is the one bath in Bessho with a published answer.

Where it is

Everything here is reached from Tokyo. Karuizawa is an hour on the Hokuriku Shinkansen and Echigo-Yuzawa 79 minutes on the Joetsu Shinkansen, both with no change. Kawaguchiko is the Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku, about two hours, and Isawa the Kaiji, an hour and forty. The Nagano towns change once: Bessho at Ueda, Nozawa at Iiyama, and Yudanaka, Hakuba and Myoko at Nagano.. Aisome-no-yu · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

JR East Pass Covers the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Ueda. The Ueda Electric Railway on to Bessho is a private line and is paid separately; the JR Tokyo Wide Pass stops short of Ueda. Sold on Klook.

What happens when you arrive

Check in and go to the bath. There is no seal to buy and nothing to declare.

How we know

Confirmed from official site (the よくいただく質問 section of the Aisome-no-yu page, which carries the bath’s own contact email and phone)

Read on: bessho-spa.jp/aisome/

タトゥーや刺青があっても入浴できますか？ご入浴いただけます。

The operator’s own wording on that page. Nothing here needs showing at a desk. If anyone does ask, show them this. It is the operator’s own wording.

Best for: A long soak with a view over Ueda straight off the train, with nothing to cover

Built by Ueda City as a municipal bath in 1972 and rebuilt on the present site in 2008. Indoor and open-air baths, simple sulfur water, 20 washing spots on each side with body soap and rinse-in shampoo. 10:00–22:00, last entry 21:20; closed the 2nd and 4th Monday (the next day when that Monday is a holiday). Adults 650 yen, school-age children 300. Rock sauna (ganbanyoku) 650 yen extra with wear and towels. Towels are sold, not free. No credit cards; PayPay accepted. Food brought in is not allowed; the restaurant is Biranju. Adults wearing diapers may not bathe. The page is hosted on the Bessho Onsen tourism association’s site.

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