Kissho CAREN
吉祥CAREN
Does Kissho CAREN allow tattoos? In a private bath
Kissho CAREN pairs Japanese rooms above Sagami Bay with a French restaurant, and puts a free-flowing tub from its own two springs on the deck of its better rooms.
The inn’s own pages carry no tattoo rule and list no reservable private bath. Its sister inn down the road, Tsuruya Kisshotei, refuses tattoos in shared baths, so do not expect the shared baths here to be open to you. What remains is certain: rooms with a view bath in granite and cypress, and rooms with a cypress open-air tub on a deck, all fed from the inn’s own spring.
The bath
Three groups of rooms have a bath of their own, and the inn says each is filled from its own spring and left to overflow. The view-bath rooms, Hanahiragi, Byakuran and Kangiku, are two-room suites of 8 and 6 tatami mats with a large bath in heavy granite and fragrant cypress, set where it takes in the bay. The corner rooms add a living space and a terrace with deck chairs and an open-air tub. The open-air bath rooms are 10 tatami with a cypress tub on an open wooden deck; the inn mentions cherry blossom in spring, green in summer and stars on clear nights.
The water is a calcium and sodium chloride spring, drawn from two sources the inn owns. The shared bathing is spread over six tubs: two large indoor halls, Hekikai and Wagetsu, and three open-air baths in cypress, stone and rock, looking over Sagami Bay to Izu Oshima. They are open from 2 to 11:30 p.m., midnight to 3 a.m. and 3:30 to 10:30 a.m., with half-hour cleaning breaks between.
The hotel
All rooms are Japanese style, from plain rooms with an alcove and transom to two-room Japanese-Western rooms with Hollywood twin beds. Dinner can be French, at the restaurant Four Seasons, or Japanese. The lounge serves tea through the day and a nightcap hour from 9:30 p.m., and staying guests can join classes, among them a French cooking class at ¥3,000 booked five days ahead. Check-in is from 2 p.m. and check-out by 11 a.m. The inn belongs to the same group as Tsuruya Kisshotei nearby.
Good to know
- Book a room with its own bath; the inn lists no private bath to reserve.
- Room tubs are free-flowing from the inn's own spring.
- One free lounge drink comes with the view-bath and open-air bath rooms.
Getting there
From Tokyo Station the inn suggests the Saphir Odoriko limited express to Izu-Atagawa Station, about 2 hours 10 minutes, then its shuttle bus, about 10 minutes. From Shinagawa it gives the Shinkansen to Atami in about 40 minutes, the JR Ito Line to Ito in about 25 and the Izukyu Line to Izu-Atagawa in about 35. Ask the inn about shuttle times when you book.
Izu-Atagawa STN · Izukyu Line (Odoriko limited express from Tokyo)
Not walkable.
The inn's shuttle bus from Izu-Atagawa Station, about 10 minutes.
Where it is
Izu-Atagawa STN
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Tokyo Wide Pass ¥16,000 · 3 days Three days of JR East trains from Tokyo, and the Izukyu line from Ito on to Izu-Atagawa and Izu-Inatori.
- Izukyu Discovery Pass Worth it if your stay also stops at Ito or Shimoda. It covers two or three days in a row on the Izukyu line between Ito and Izukyu-Shimoda, Izu-Atagawa and Izu-Inatori included, and a vacant ordinary seat on the Odoriko. It doesn’t cover the JR part of the ride from Tokyo.
- Mt Omuro and the Izu coast day trip The Mt Omuro lift, the Atami beach road, the Jogasaki cliffs and Ito’s harbor.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
What happens when you arrive
Use the bath in your room, or reserve a private bath.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site: (the rooms page lists the rooms with view baths and open-air baths and says they are free-flowing from the inn’s own source)
Best for: couples who want a cypress tub on their own deck and a French dinner afterward
Rooms with a bath of their own: the view-bath rooms Hanahiragi, Byakuran and Kangiku, with large tubs of granite and cypress; corner rooms with an open-air bath on a terrace; and rooms with a cypress open-air tub on a wooden deck. The spring is a calcium and sodium chloride water, free-flowing. Guests in these rooms get one free drink at the lounge. No reservable private bath is listed.
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