Hot springs are one of the best experiences you can have in Japan, whether you’re exploring the city or finding adventures in the countryside. However, the bathhouse can be daunting for non-binary and trans folks. Here, we’ll try to change that with recommendations for where to go — including LGBTQ+ friendly onsen, private baths, and old-fashioned co-ed pools.
From co-ed to segregrated: A brief history of Japan’s onsen
Hot and cold baths, natural mineral water, a garden or river view — the classic hot-spring experience is one that unites both locals and tourists alike as a quintessential joy of Japan. Consisting of natural mineral hot springs (onsen), manmade public baths (sento), and large resort complexes (super sento), Japan’s culture of bathhouses is thought to have begun as early as the 6th century, and closely intertwines with Buddhist doctrines on purification.
For most of history these onsen were co-ed, as mainstream Japanese culture did not associate nudity while bathing with eroticism or sexuality. Around the late 1800s, in an effort to stem sex work that had begun developing on the sidelines of public baths as well as due to imported Western codes of morality, many of the co-ed onsen disappeared to be replaced by the segregated male and female baths seen today.
This unfortunately has placed many transgender, non-binary, and other diversely bodied people in a difficult position when it comes to public bathing. After all, there are many queer people (both in the local Japanese community and among visitors) for whom public bathing and especially natural onsen are a cherished experience. But for people whose bodies and/or gender identities do not clearly fit or “pass” as one binary sex or the other, choosing a side to enter in a public bath can range from uncomfortable to outright dangerous.
With this in mind, we’ve aimed to compile different resources for queer individuals looking for a bathing facility, ranging from rare LGBTQ+ friendly onsen, to the pragmatic private room, to old-school co-ed bathing pools.
Private and family-room baths
Among my friends and acquaintances in the transgender and/or non-binary community, people have adopted many different solutions for how to access onsen and sento in Japan. There are some who use male or female baths in alignment with their gender identity thanks to having the privilege of mainstream passability, or the tenacity to challenge social norms.
There are also many transgender people who, unfortunately, do not feel safe using these baths, or simply do not want to worry about the possibility that a staff member might out them. Additionally, many non-binary people like myself do not feel comfortable using either male or female baths much of the time.
Renting a private bath — usually listed as a “kashikiri” (private use) or “kazokuburo” (family bath) — is the go-to, bread-and-butter means that most LGBTQ+ people (as well as those with tattoos) opt for to resolve these issues. A private bath can be co-ed and consist solely of one’s friends or family, or be entered solo. For most, a private bathing option is the ideal way of relaxing and feeling truly safe, while also enjoying the facilities of a hot spring or public bathhouse.
The biggest downside to private baths is the extra cost of booking them. A private onsen typically costs between ¥1,500 to ¥4,000 per hour. These spaces can usually be reserved over the phone or via a touch screen monitor at the more high-tech onsen.
Explore inns with private hot springs around Japan, or if you’re in Tokyo, check out Senkyaku Banrai in Toyosu — this super sento has private baths available to rent.
LGBTQ+ friendly onsen: The unicorns
There are precious few explicitly transgender friendly sento and onsen which make it clear, in their policy guidelines, that all are welcome.
Kirishimaya Ryokan, Gunma
Kirishimaya Ryokan in Gunma is an inn especially favored by the queer Japanese community for being amenable to transfolk. While many inns offer private baths, Kirishima’s private baths are free to use, and guests can also book the main bath out for private use when there are few customers. This makes the inn an excellent sanctuary for transgender people who would be otherwise uncomfortable with a male/female gender segregation, as they can access private baths easily without extra cost.
Ashiyu Café & Bar Donyoku, Tokyo
Ashiyu Café & Bar Donyoku is another venue that specifically characterizes itself as a trans- and LGBTQ-friendly establishment. Located in Shinjuku Ni-chōme of Tokyo, Donyoku is a restaurant, bar, and community space open to all queer people and allies. Though it’s not a bathhouse, several of the tables feature foot baths (or ashiyu), where diners can soak their feet in hot water for a mini onsen experience.
Beppu City, Oita
While the list of bathhouses which openly promote pro-queer policies is short, there have been sporadic conversations about how to make these spaces more accessible to diverse genders, sexualities, and bodies, particularly within the onsen capital itself, Beppu City, Oita Prefecture.
This included a one-day “LGBT Furoject” (a pun on the Japanese word for bath, ofuro, and “project”) in 2018, in which bathers were organized, variously, based on gender presentation, assigned sex, and finally sexuality. The aim of this project was to develop relationships between LGBTQ individuals and potential allies in the straight community, as well as to discuss new ways of making baths inclusive.
More recently, in response to the 2023 Act on Promoting Public Understanding of Diversity in Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Beppu City again brought up the conversation and invited transgender people to talk about their needs and experiences with public baths. As these dialogues continue, it is likely that the number of explicitly transgender- and non-binary inclusive public bathhouses will increase. More about Beppu onsen later.
Implicitly gender-free super sento (and pools)
Spa Resort Hawaiians, Fukushima
A waterpark and resort which many people find implicitly inclusive is the Spa Resort Hawaiians. Though tropicalistic in its use of Hawaiian esthetic (including questionable aloha shirts and muumuus for its guests to wear), Spa Resort Hawaiians comes recommended for its impressive water slides (said to be the largest in Japan) and for providing pools, hot springs, and saunas for its guests.
Visitors concerned about gender-segregated locker rooms can rent a private hotel room attached to the Hawaiians facility and arrive at the pool already dressed in their swimsuit. Hawaiians also has a rare co-ed sauna, as well as a co-ed hot spring people enter in their swimwear.
Tokyo Summerland, Tokyo
Tokyo Summerland is another large water park and resort notable for having a specifically labelled “All Gender” changing room. Guests can enjoy the water slides and swimming pools, and while there isn’t a sento as such, there is a jacuzzi tub (albeit with a questionable tiki theme). Despite the name, the park is open all year round.
Note: Many water parks, onsen and sento bar customers with tattoos from entering, regardless of their gender identity.
Mixed-gender hot springs
The last category of public bath LGBTQ+ people might seek out are the small, rural co-ed onsen which still exist all across Japan. These are wonderful to visit for several reasons: they are important holdovers from Japan’s onsen tradition when men and women bathed together; they are almost always free, unmanned by any staff, and unaffiliated with commercial institutions; they also offer some of the most breathtaking natural beauty in their respective areas.
And, of course, people with tattoos, diverse bodies, and diverse genders can use these onsen without fearing any explicit rule or policy that might exclude them. For all these reasons, I recommend co-ed onsen as a niche bathing experience.
Co-ed hot springs are not necessarily trans-friendly safe spaces or mythical utopian onsen: most of these baths still have gendered changing rooms (albeit very small huts with curtains), which can still pose potential dangers to transgender visitors and others who have bodies that do not easily pass along the binary. That said, the regulars at the extremely rural co-ed baths are generally elderly, and in my experience care very little how their own bodies or others’ bodies look. They also tend to be quite tranquil, with few visitors.
Some of the top traditional co-ed hot springs include Beppu City’s best unkept secret, the noyu, or “field spring” — the secret onsen of Beppu. These include Tsurunoyu and Hebinyu — Hebinyu in particular is very quiet, with sparse visitors.
Other notable co-ed onsen include the massive Senninburo at Sukayu Onsen in Aomori Prefecture and the Kanaya Ryokan Onsen in Shizuoka, both of which have mixed bathing facilities, with pool garments offered to female guests for modesty.
In Akita, Nyūtō Onsen and Tamagawa Onsen are both mixed and offer high quality mineral water. Some of the most rugged rural mixed baths include Tōshichi Onsen in Iwate and Hirauchi Onsen on the shore of Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture.
In Nagano prefecture, Kanaguya Ryokan offers a large number of different baths for guests who have rented rooms — these baths can be used alternately by guests, and essentially function as private baths without extra fees.
See more mixed-gender onsen near Tokyo.
While we do our best to ensure it’s correct, information is subject to change.
