Hotel Morinokaze Tateyama
ホテル森の風立山
Does Hotel Morinokaze Tateyama allow tattoos? Yes, covered
Hotel Morinokaze Tateyama sits at the foot of the Alpine Route with a rock open-air bath that looks at the Tateyama peaks. Since July 2024 a tattooed guest can use it with every tattoo covered by a seal, which the hotel still calls a trial.
The hotel refused tattooed guests outright until mid-2024. Since July 1, 2024 it has admitted them to its baths on a trial basis, provided every tattoo is hidden under cover seals or something similar. Anyone who will not keep to that rule is still turned away. The hotel names no seal size and does not say whether it sells seals.
Show this at the front desk
弊社では、入れ墨・タトゥ－のある方のご入館・ご入浴を原則お断りとしますが、下記ルールを厳守していただける方は、 2024年7月1日より、テスト的にご入浴を受け入れることにいたしました。入れ墨・タトゥーが全て覆える様に、専用カバーシール等でデザインを隠していただければご入浴を受け入れます。但し、当ホテルのルールを守っていただけない方に関しては、今まで通りご入浴をお断りさせていただきます。
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
The water is Awasuno Onsen, an alkaline simple sulfur spring at pH 9.8 that the hotel calls a skin-beautifying bath. The main hall has indoor tubs with a jacuzzi, a lying bath and box baths, and a sauna. Outside is the rock open-air bath, built to blend into the woods around it, with the Tateyama range in view; the hotel lists fresh green in spring, red leaves in autumn and a snow-viewing bath in winter. Baths open 3 p.m. to midnight and again in the morning, from 5:30 a.m. between April 15 and November 30 and from 6:30 a.m. in winter, closing at 9:30 a.m. Day visitors pay ¥900 (children ¥400) and bring their own towel; hours are 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays, last entry 5 p.m.
The private bath is meant for couples and families, with no men's or women's side, and the hotel suggests it for guests with babies and small children. It costs ¥2,200 an hour per group, from 3 to 10 p.m., with the last reservation at 9 p.m. The eleven Shikisai villas each have an open-air tub on a wooden deck, hinoki in some and ceramic in others, and the hotel says both the villa tubs and the private bath draw the same spring as the main baths.
The hotel
A resort hotel of the Nihon House Hotel & Resort group at the western gate of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, with Japanese rooms, Western twins and triples in a main building and an annex, a top-floor executive floor with its own entrance, and the Shikisai villa wing of eleven detached rooms behind a gate and black fence in a Japanese garden. The lounge has a wall of windows toward the Tateyama peaks and free coffee and tea; the hotel says wild monkeys sometimes pass outside. A shop sells Toyama sweets and crafts from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Small dogs up to 6 kg are allowed in some rooms for a fee.
Good to know
- Bring a towel for day use: the ¥900 ticket does not include one.
- The private bath has no men's or women's side, so a couple or a family bathes together for ¥2,200 an hour.
- Free pickup from Tateyama Station, booked by phone in advance; call again when the train arrives.
- Parking for 100 cars is free and needs no reservation.
Getting there
Take the Toyama Chiho Railway from Toyama Station to Tateyama Station, about 60 minutes. The hotel is 7 minutes from the station by car and runs a free shuttle; book it by phone beforehand and call when you arrive, and a car comes to meet you. The shuttle timetable is a PDF on the access page. By car it is about 40 minutes from the Tateyama interchange on the Hokuriku Expressway, about 25 km along prefectural route 6.
Tateyama STN · Toyama Chiho Railway Tateyama line from Toyama
Not walkable.
Free hotel shuttle from Tateyama Station, booked by phone; 7 minutes by car.
Where it is
Hotel door STN
- Hokuriku Shinkansen 2 hr 8 min from Tokyo
- Toyama Chiho Railway 1 hr 5 min
- hotel shuttle about 7 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- Hokuriku Arch Pass ¥35,000 · 7 days Seven days between Tokyo, Kanazawa and Osaka, with reserved seats on the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Toyama, and the Ainokaze Toyama Railway and JR Himi and Johana lines on to the coast and the Shogawa valley.
- 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. The hotel doesn't specify a size, so cover everything.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the notice on the hotel’s hot spring page, in force from July 1, 2024)
Best for: sealing up for a rock open-air bath that faces the Tateyama range, with the Alpine Route a short drive away
The hotel calls the arrangement a test, so it can change. A private bath for couples and families costs ¥2,200 an hour, 3 to 10 p.m. with the last booking at 9 p.m. The eleven Shikisai villas each have their own open-air tub, hinoki or ceramic, and the hotel says the villa tubs and the private bath use the same spring as the main baths. Day-use bathing is ¥900 for adults, 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays, last entry 5 p.m., towels not supplied.
Book your stay
- BBooking.comCheck availability
- TTrip.comCheck availability
Booking through these links 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.