AQUA SWEET
アクアスイート
Does AQUA SWEET allow tattoos? In a private bath
Each of Aqua Sweet’s twelve rooms, eight in the main building and four in an annex, has a hot spring tub outside, and five more private baths in a separate building are free all night, including two with a sauna.
Aqua Sweet publishes no tattoo rule. Every room has its own open-air hot spring tub, and five more private baths on the grounds are free and unlocked around the clock.
The bath
The water is the Nasu Prairie spring, an alkaline simple spring that tested at 37.9°C and pH 8.8 at the source in 2005, colorless and without smell or taste. The hotel says plainly that it heats, filters, recirculates and disinfects it to keep the tubs at a steady temperature and clean, and that it would rather do that than claim free-flowing water. It lists neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, stiff shoulders, bruises, sprains, chronic digestive trouble, poor circulation and fatigue as what the water is for.
Every one of the 12 rooms has its own open-air hot spring tub, sized for two, at 40 to 42°C and usable 24 hours. Four rooms in the main building have a round Shigaraki ceramic tub; the other four and all four annex rooms have a square tub faced in natural stone. Each room also has an indoor jacuzzi tub with a mist sauna, where the shampoo is kept.
On the grounds a separate building holds five more private baths: four open-air tubs, two of them with a new loyly sauna, and one indoor tub. They are free, open 24 hours, and cannot be booked; walk over in your yukata (a light cotton robe), find an empty one and lock it from inside. When it is busy the hotel asks for about 30 minutes a turn. The saunas run 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Each bath is walled in, roofed, and big enough for two, and the hotel says a couple of them have a surprise built in.
The hotel
A small hotel for couples at Takaku, off the lower Nasu Kaido, run with its sister inn Bell the Cat. The single-story main building has eight non-smoking Western rooms of about 10 mats, five with a king double and three twins, with corridors and doors painted as trick art by artists from the nearby trick-art museum. The annex adds four rooms of about 11 mats with a canopied king bed and a shared pantry with a microwave. Dinner is an original full course of Japanese and Western dishes at about 6 p.m., breakfast a Western plate at about 8:30, both in the room. Check-in is 3 to 6 p.m., and seven steps from the parking lot rule out wheelchairs.
Good to know
- Five extra private baths, free all night, no booking, lock from inside; two have a sauna, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- The water is heated and recirculated, and the hotel says so on its own page.
- No shuttle. A taxi from Kuroiso is about ¥5,000 to ¥7,000; ask for Bell the Cat.
- Discounted tickets at the desk, for the trick-art museum, Nasu Highland Park and Nasu Safari Park.
Getting there
The hotel's own directions start at Kuroiso Station on the JR Tohoku line: take the bus toward Nasu-Yumoto, get off at Safari Park Iriguchi, by the Nasu Safari Park sign, and walk about 10 minutes. There is no pickup. A taxi from the station is about ¥5,000 to ¥7,000. The highway bus from Shinjuku, Ikebukuro or Oji stops at Yuai-no-mori, the closest stop, ¥3,800 one way. By car it is about 10 minutes from the Nasu interchange, turning left at the Safari Park sign; winter tires from December to February.
Kuroiso STN · JR Tohoku line (the hotel's directions start here; the Shinkansen stops at Nasushiobara)
Not walkable.
Bus toward Nasu-Yumoto to Safari Park Iriguchi, then a 10-minute walk. No shuttle; taxi about ¥5,000 to ¥7,000.
Where it is
Nasu Safari Park entrance bus stop
- Tohoku Shinkansen 1 hr 8 min
- Kanto Jidosha bus 32 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Tokyo Wide Pass ¥16,000 · 3 days Worth it if Nasu is one stop in a longer Kanto trip.
- 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
Skip the shared baths and use one of the private baths. No reservation needed.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site ()
Best for: couples who want a hot spring tub on the balcony and a choice of five more to lock themselves into
Four private open-air baths (two with a sauna) and one indoor private bath, free 24 hours; no booking, lock from inside, about 30 minutes each when busy. The sauna runs 3 to 11 p.m. The hotel says its spring is heated, filtered, recirculated and disinfected.
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