With Japan expecting approximately 400,000 overseas visitors for the 2019 Rugby World Cup set to begin in September, hot-spring resorts across the country are faced with the ever-present issue of how to handle customers who have tattoos.
According to a 2015 Japan Tourism Agency survey, some 60 percent of onsen hot-spring facilities in the country denied entry to individuals with tattoos, with many deeming them taboo as a result of their association with yakuza crime syndicates and other anti-social groups.