Thermae-Yu Shinjuku
テルマー湯 新宿店
Does Thermae-Yu Shinjuku allow tattoos? Yes, covered
Tattoos are allowed, but the rule depends on your sex and where you live. Japanese men and long-term residents are refused.
The facility's own rules page sets it out. Overseas visitors show a passport or air ticket (arrival within 90 days) and bathe wearing one facility-issued seal, ¥330. Women of any nationality may enter with fashion tattoos, with a purchased seal for anything over 30 cm × 30 cm (11.8 × 11.8 in). Japanese men and long-term residents are refused regardless of size, and a seal doesn't help.
The bath
A day spa in Kabukicho, open 24 hours, with one real spring: the open-air bath, Kamiyo no Yu, filled with water trucked from the Kamiyo spring in Izu, heated, diluted and circulated. Around it are a carbonated bath at 38 to 39°C, a silk-bubble bath, a lying jet bath, a 17°C cold plunge and two saunas a side, with a mist sauna for men and a mud-pack and salt sauna for women. The baths close for cleaning 3 to 6 a.m. The entry fee buys up to 18 hours between 6 a.m. and midnight with the bath tax, room wear and towels; midnight to 6 a.m. in the building adds a late-night charge, with no going out and coming back. No rooms: people sleep in the lounges.
Good to know
- Real Izu spring water in the open-air bath, 24 hours a day, beside Shinjuku-sanchome Station.
- Read the tattoo rule before you go. It turns on sex and residency, not size.
- Not a hotel. An all-night spa where the lounges are the beds.
Getting there
Also about nine minutes from exit A1 of Higashi-Shinjuku Station.
Shinjuku-sanchome STN · Marunouchi, Fukutoshin and Toei Shinjuku subway lines
About 2 minutes from exit E1.
About 9 minutes from the east exit of Shinjuku Station.
Where it is
Shinjuku-sanchome STN 2 min
- JR Tokyo Wide Pass ¥16,000 · 3 days Three days of JR trains around Tokyo, the Narita Express and the Tokyo Monorail included.
- Tattoo-friendly onsen visit with a guide A guide takes you to a Tokyo bathhouse that welcomes tattoos, with five indoor baths and a separate open-air tub. About 90 minutes.
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- 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
Cover the tattoo completely before you go in, to the size on this page. How the seals work, and where to buy them →
How we know
Confirmed from official site
Read on: thermae-yu.jp/user-guide/
Best for: visiting tourists staying in Shinjuku who read the policy carefully first
Listed because it does admit many tattooed visitors, but the terms are unusual enough that it's worth reading the official page before you go.
The map shows every hotel close by. We haven’t checked their tattoo rules: sleep there, bathe here. Search Booking.com instead
Booking through this link costs you nothing extra and earns us a small commission, which keeps this guide free and up to date for our tattoo community. Thanks for your support.
For current hours and prices, see the official website.