Asarigawa Onsen 2-chome, up the valley road Ryokan ★★★★★

Otaru Retreat Kuramure by Onko Chishin

小樽リトリート 蔵群

Does Otaru Retreat Kuramure by Onko Chishin allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

Nineteen rooms behind warehouse walls, each with its own spring bath already at temperature, and one rented tub outdoors with a sauna beside it for 90 minutes at a time.

Nothing about tattoos is published anywhere on this operator’s site. It does not need to be: all nineteen rooms have a spring bath kept at temperature around the clock, most of them semi-open-air, and the shared bathing is a single completely private rental with its own open-air tub, löyly sauna and cold bath. The one thing the FAQ does say about bathing is that the spring is for staying guests only, so nobody else will be in the building.

Where it is

Sapporo STN JR Rapid Airport, then Chuo Bus about 1 h 10 of riding Hakodate STN Tomakomai STN New Chitose Airport Hotel location
Asarigawa Onsen STN
Sapporo to Noboribetsu Onsen is about 1 h 45: the Suzuran, JR’s limited express (a faster train with fewer stops and a fee on top of the fare), then a Donan bus of 21 minutes up to the onsen terminal. Toyako Onsen is the Hokuto, the limited express to Hakodate, as far as Toya, then a Donan bus of 24 minutes around the lake, about 2 h 20 in all. Niseko is about 3 h 25 by way of Otaru and Kutchan, or a direct highway coach for less money. Jozankei has no railway: the Jotetsu Kappa Liner runs there from Sapporo Station in 56 minutes and is booked in advance. Otaru is 35 minutes on the Rapid Airport, Lake Shikotsu a bus from New Chitose Airport, and Hakodate 3 h 50 on the Hokuto. Otaru Retreat Kuramure by Onko Chishin · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

JR Hokkaido Rail Pass Five, seven or ten days of unlimited JR trains on the island, which covers the Rapid Airport from Sapporo or the airport to Otaru. The Hokkaido Chuo bus up to Asarigawa Onsen is paid separately. Sold on Klook.

What happens when you arrive

Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.

How we know

Confirmed from official site — bath structure, not a tattoo policy (in-room spring baths from /rooms/, the rented bath from /private-onsen/); no tattoo rule on the site’s rooms, FAQ or private-onsen pages

Read on: otaru.by-onko-chishin.com/private-onsen/

Best for: Nineteen rooms of different design, each with its own spring bath, in a building shaped after Otaru’s warehouses

Rebranded in 2026 under Onko Chishin; the architecture is Nakayama Makoto’s, and the 2026 rework added new sofas, desks and headboards per room. Six room types: semi-open-air suite, four-bed suite, junior suite, Japanese-Western suite, semi-open-air maisonette and onsen maisonette. Spring is a sodium and calcium chloride water. The rented bath is about 11.4 m² of open-air tub looking at the hills, with a löyly-capable sauna, cold bath and outdoor cooling space, at 11,000 yen for 90 minutes per room; there is also a fermented sawdust enzyme bath produced with Otaka Koso. Minibar drinks in the room are included. Infants sharing a bed are not accepted in several room types.

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