TOKYO - Following an increase in the number of foreigners visiting Japan, operators of bathing facilities throughout the country are facing difficult decisions as to whether they should accept foreign customers who have tattoos.
For many foreigners, a tattoo is considered part of their personal style, but in Japan, many people associate tattoos with yakuza crime syndicates.
At many bathing facilities in Japan, people with tattoos are not permitted to enter. There is an English website providing information for foreign visitors regarding tattoos, and some facilities are frequented by many tourists from abroad.
A public bathhouse, Funaoka Onsen, in Kyoto, is introduced as "tattoo friendly," in a popular review site for world travellers.
The bathhouse was founded 70 years ago. The manager said, "We have not been distinguishing any particular types of customers since way back."
Partly due to the retro atmosphere of its building, the number of foreign visitors has been increasing gradually since a few years ago. The bathhouse said that it has received inquiries from hotels concerning tattoos. The bathhouse said that as many as 50 foreigners visit the facility a day.
A website was established in May this year to provide relevant information to foreign visitors. The site lists bathing facilities both in English and Japanese. Currently, the site lists a total of about 400 such facilities.
Many of the facilities were built from 1990 onward amid growing desire to exclude customers tied to organized crime syndicates. They also depend on business from families. As a result, restrictions on tattooed customers have spread.
In a questionnaire of customers of such facilities conducted the same year, 49% said they felt uncomfortable around customers with tattoos while 24% said they feared such people.
"I think it's necessary to gradually relax the restrictions, but considering the reactions of ordinary customers, it'll be difficult to do so," said Toshihiro Moroboshi, the head of Onyoku Shinko Kyokai.
30% of customers to Naniwa no Yu, a multi-service bathhouse in Kita Ward, Osaka, are foreigners. The bathhouse nevertheless displays a sign in English, Chinese and Korean that says tattooed customers cannot enter. Customers in the changing room and baths found to have tattoos are asked to leave.
In February of last year, the government adopted a written document at a Cabinet meeting stating that under its interpretation of the law, tattoos were not a valid reason to deny entry to customers. However, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the document was not legally binding and that facilities had discretion to accept or refuse tattooed customers.
According to a 2015 Japan Tourism Agency questionnaire of hotels and ryokan traditional inns near hot springs, 56% said they refuse customers with tattoos.
World Rugby, the international governing body for rugby, has asked foreign players who will participate in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan to conceal their tattoos at sports gyms, pools and other facilities out of consideration for Japanese people averse to tattoos.