Onsen Etiquette
Onsen Etiquette: First-Timer's Step-by-Step Guide
The full ritual, in plain English. Wash first. Small towel off the bath. No swimsuit. No staring. No phone.
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The full ritual, step by step
The first time you walk into a Japanese onsen can feel intimidating. Most first-timers admit later that they spent half their visit guessing. Here is the ritual in order. Once you have done it twice, it stops being something you think about.
Step 1. Check in and use the locker room
Take your shoes off at the entrance. Pay the admission fee at the counter (typically 500 to 1,500 yen for day-use sento, often included for ryokan guests). You will receive a wristband, a locker key, or a numbered tag. Find your cubicle in the changing room, called daiyokujō, and strip fully. The bath is always nude. Put your clothes, your watch, and your phone in the locker.
Step 2. Pick the correct gender area
Bathhouses have separate bath areas for men and women. Blue curtains or signs mark men, red marks women. The kanji 男 means man, 女 means woman. If in doubt, ask the attendant at the front desk before you go in. Asking once is much better than walking into the wrong side.
Step 3. Wash and rinse at the shower stools
Inside the bath area you will see low wooden or plastic stools, handheld shower heads, and a row of baskets with soap and shampoo. Sit on a stool. Turn the handle, test the temperature, then lather up and rinse your whole body and your hair. The point of this step: the bath is for soaking, not for cleaning. You enter clean.
Two practical notes. First, do not let water from your shower spray into the bath. Second, leave the stool and bucket tidy for the next guest.
Step 4. Enter the bath quietly
Step in slowly. The hot spring water is typically 38 to 43 degrees Celsius, hotter than most Western baths. Bring your small towel, called a tenugui, with you. Do not put it in the water. Instead, fold it and rest it on top of your head, which is an old custom that helped bathhouses keep towels dry. Anywhere outside the bath works.
Enter the bath quietly. No splashing. The onsen is a shared quiet space.
Step 5. Soak, exit, rinse, repeat
Soak for 10 to 20 minutes. Watch your body. If you feel light-headed, get out. Standing up too fast after a long soak can cause dizziness. Step out, rinse briefly with clean shower water, and rest on the bench for 10 minutes. Drink water. Most guests do two or three soak sessions per visit.
Step 6. Dry, dress, drink
Back in the changing room, sit on the bench and dry off fully before dressing. Use the towels in the basket or your own. Drink water after the bath. Your body has lost fluid through sweat and you will feel dehydrated if you skip this.
What not to do
- No swimsuit. Japanese onsen are clothing-free. If you want to bathe clothed, book a private bath or in-room tub instead.
- No towel in the bath. The small towel stays on your head or on the bath edge.
- No phone, no camera. Photography is forbidden in the bathing areas.
- No staring. Japanese bathing culture is body-positive and equalizing. Staring at other guests is rude. Closed eyes and quiet conversation are the norm.
- No jumping, no splashing. No diving. No swimming. Bath water is shared.
- No shaving, no soap in the bath. All cleaning happens at the stools in the wash area.
- No long hair loose. Tie long hair up so it does not enter the bath.
Tattoo policies, briefly
Many traditional onsen still refuse visible tattoos because of historical associations with organized crime. Tattoo-friendly alternatives include:
- Tattoo cover stickers. 10cm by 10cm seals that hide the tattoo. Don Quijote sells them.
- Private baths (kazoku-buro). Most ryokan offer one or two private bath slots that anyone can reserve.
- Modern facilities. Tokyo's Thermae-Yu and some newer onsen complexes are explicitly tattoo-friendly.
Our Hakone guide and Beppu guide list which specific properties accept tattoos.
Gender, accessibility, and other practical bits
Most large public baths offer gender-separated pools and at least one gender-neutral or family bath. Disabled access varies: a few modern facilities have hoists and ramps, but most historic ryokan involve stairs. If you have a mobility limitation, call ahead. Photography is not allowed anywhere in the bathing areas. Thefts of phones and cameras are not common in Japan but lockers are mandatory for a reason.
Frequently asked
Is it nude for everyone?
Yes. Bathing is always nude. Children bathe with their same-gender parent. Same-sex bathing pools are the rule, gender separation is enforced, and swimwear is not permitted.
What if I have a tattoo?
Buy cover stickers, choose a private bath, or pick a tattoo-friendly property. Our Hakone and Tokyo guides name specific spots.
How do I tell men from women?
Blue means men, red means women. Or look for the kanji: 男 is men, 女 is women.
Can I have a bath alone?
Yes. Most ryokan have at least one private bath that you can reserve in 40 to 60 minute slots. Some hotel chains offer in-room tubs. Both options bypass communal-bath etiquette entirely.
What about kids?
Most onsen welcome children. Kids bathe with their same-gender parent. Bring swim diapers if your child is not yet toilet-trained. Some ryokan are no-children properties, so book elsewhere if traveling with very young children.
Related: Hakone onsen · Beppu onsen · Tokyo onsen
By Emi Kato, onsen specialist. Twelve years documenting Japan's hot springs from a base in Kyoto. The ritual described here is the standard one. Regional variations (rotemburo temperature, washing stool layout, towel-on-head custom) exist and don't change the core etiquette.
Book a first-timer-friendly onsen experience
If the ritual feels abstract until you do it, book a chaperoned introduction. The Hakone and Tokyo Viator listings below walk guests through washing, gender selection, and pool etiquette with English-speaking staff. Private bath options are available for travelers with tattoos, modest preferences, or anyone who simply prefers to soak alone.
Hakone Luxury Onsen Private Tour
Hakone Luxury Onsen Private Tour offers a relaxing full day journey through Hakone's beautiful natural landscapes, scenic viewpoints, and authentic Japanese
From $ 780.00See confirmed tattoo-friendly venuesExternal booking on Viator · pricing and cancellations handled by Viator
External booking on Viator · pricing and cancellations handled by Viator
External booking on Viator · pricing and cancellations handled by Viator
Let's talk about tattoos, because the guidebooks lie. The official answer is that tattoos are banned, and yes, you will still see signs saying exactly that. The actual answer in 2026 is a patchwork. Large city onsen in Tokyo and Osaka mostly don't check. Small family-run ryokan in the countryside certainly do. Kusatsu, one of Japan's most famous hot spring towns, runs a quiet policy at several of its public baths where small tattoos covered by a waterproof bandage are fine, but full sleeves will get you turned around at the door. If you have visible ink, call ahead , not email, call, and ask directly. The word is 'irezumi wa daijobu desu ka' , 'are tattoos okay?' You'll get a yes or no, and the honesty saves everyone embarrassment.
Next: the towel. The small white towel they give you is not for modesty. It is for washing, for wiping sweat off your face in the hot water, and occasionally for placing on your head as a cooling trick. It does NOT go in the bath water. I have watched tourists lower themselves into the pool clutching this towel to their chest like the bath is going to attack them. Nobody cares what you look like. They care that you brought a soapy towel into the clean water. Leave it on the side or fold it on your head.
The washing thing matters more than anything else on this page. You must wash before entering the bath. Not rinse, wash. Every onsen has a washing station with a stool, a handheld shower, soap, and shampoo. Sit down , standing and splashing everywhere marks you instantly as someone who didn't read the sign. Scrub thoroughly, rinse completely, and put the stool and bowl back where you found them. The bath itself is for soaking, not cleaning. Think of it as a hot tub where everyone agreed on the rules about 400 years ago.
Mixed bathing , konyoku , is real but rare, and mostly in rural onsen. Sukayu in Aomori is the one foreigners Google and almost none of them go. The water is milky white with sulphur, so you can't see anything, and the crowd skews heavily toward elderly Japanese bathers who have been doing this since before you were born. If you go, you'll be the youngest person there by about 40 years. There are maybe a dozen genuine konyoku left in Japan, and half of them are in the middle of nowhere. It's not the exotic experience Instagram makes it look like. It's mostly just old people in hot water ignoring you.
Finally, the things locals notice that guidebooks never mention. Keep your voice low , onsen are quiet places, not pool parties. Don't let your hair touch the water; tie it up. Don't dunk your head under unless you've seen a local do it first. Dry yourself off before walking back into the changing room because nobody wants your puddle on their dry floor. And for the love of everything, drink water. Two cups minimum after a long soak. I've watched tourists nearly faint in the changing room because they sat in 42-degree water for an hour and then stood up too fast. The bath is not trying to hurt you, but it will if you don't pay attention.
The best etiquette advice I can give you is the simplest: watch what the grandmothers do and copy them. They've been doing this longer than you've been alive, and they know the rhythm of the place better than any guidebook. Wash where they wash, soak how they soak, and move at their pace. The onsen will take care of the rest.
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