Hotel Kanronomori

Kanronomori is the Niseko bath to send friends with sleeves. The hotel says plainly that it welcomes tattooed guests, Japanese or foreign, and asks for ordinary bath manners plus some tact if other bathers look uneasy. The front desk sells cover stickers, and there's a private family bath with a sauna for anyone who wants the water to themselves.

The water comes up from a source on the riverbank and smells faintly of sulphur. In the tub it looks almost clear. There are two of what the hotel calls forest sky rotenburo, looking out over the Konbu Onsen valley toward Moiwa, and they alternate between men and women by the day. Each big indoor bath has its own sauna.

Day entry is ¥1,800 and closes earlier on weekends and holidays, which makes it a weekday plan. Ride Moiwa until your legs give out, then come down for a bowl of the hotel's Kanro soba and a long afternoon in the water.