TOKYO >> With the number of foreign tourists in Japan increasing, operators of bathhouses and other such facilities are struggling with a new government statement that said access to public bathing facilities should not be restricted just because customers have tattoos, approved at a Cabinet meeting in February.

It is not unusual for people from other countries to get tattooed because of their culture or for fashion. But opposition to tattoos is still strong among Japanese bathhouse users and operators, partly for the purpose of keeping yakuza gangsters from those facilities.

A person related to the industry said, “It will take more time before people with tattoos are accepted.”

The Public Bath Houses Law obliges public bathing facility operators to refuse entry to people with infectious diseases and to prevent customers from doing anything that will foul the baths, from the perspective of public sanitation.

The government’s written statement said having tattoos alone does not adversely affect sanitary conditions, and thus having tattoos does not constitute a reason for refusing customers under the law.

However, the written statement does not have any binding power. An official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said, “We leave it to the judgment of facility operators whether they allow (people with tattoos) to use their bathing facilities.”

Onyoku Shinko Kyokai, an incorporated foundation promoting hot-water bathing, surveyed about 1,200 bathhouse users in autumn 2015. About 130 bathhouses, including large recreational types called “super sento,” belong to the foundation.

Among the respondents, 49 percent said they felt uncomfortable, and 24 percent said they felt scared about people with tattoos.

Regarding the statement, Toshihiro Morohoshi, chief director of the foundation, said, “Users have deep-rooted negative sentiments that mean they feel scared by people with tattoos. It can hardly be said that tattoos are socially accepted. It is necessary to hold debates involving a wider range of people, including bathers.”

“Ofuro cafe utatane,” a public bathing facility in Kita Ward, Saitama, has a signboard at its entrance announcing, “A trial using stickers to cover tattoos has been extended indefinitely.”

The facility provides adhesive plasters, each 12.8 centimeters by 18.2 centimeters — close to the size of a comic book — allowing people to enter if they hide their tattoos with them.

Behind this decision is an increase in the number of inbound foreign tourists as well as a growing number of young Japanese people who are getting tattoos as fashion statements.

The facility began to implement the measure in August 2015. Currently, about 20 people a month on average use the plasters.

The government’s written statement effectively authorized the facility’s measure. But Onsendojo Inc., the company operating the facility, still considers it possible that other bathers may voice feelings of fear. Thus, the facility will continue providing the stickers only on a trial basis.

On the other hand, conventional public bathhouses for the general public — called sento — have been relatively open-minded about tattoos because those facilities are very public in nature.

“The judgment is made by each of the bathhouses,” said an official of Zenkoku Koshu Yokujogyo Seikatsu Eisei Dogyo Kumiai Rengokai, a Tokyo-based federation of cooperatives of public bathhouse operators focusing on public sanitation. About 60 percent of all sento nationwide are members of the federation.

But the official added: “Sento play the role of bathing facilities for local communities. So operators don’t refuse people only because they have tattoos. We would like to proactively accept foreign users, too.”

However, other sento that have restrictions against people with tattoos for the purpose of eliminating yakuza gangsters showed bewilderment.

A Tottori Prefecture cooperative of bathhouse operators, under the umbrella of the federation, has banned the use of bathhouses by people with tattoos inside its prefecture since December 2014. This measure has been taken in cooperation with the prefectural police.

Masatsugu Matsumoto, chief director of the prefectural cooperative, said: “People at bathhouses feel scared if there are many other customers with tattoos. Although I respect the content of the government’s written statement, it must not result in a situation in which bathers feel afraid. We would like to continue our current measure.”

It was around 1990 when restrictions on bathhouse use by people with tattoos in public bathing facilities became noticeable. Around that time, the number of “super sento” type bathing facilities began to increase.

Because users of such facilities spend a longer time there than at conventional sento, it is assumed that the operators of these facilities took the measure with the aim of preventing trouble.

In recent years, the rising number of foreign tourists has prompted discussions about whether the restriction is appropriate.

In September 2013, a woman from New Zealand who is Maori — the indigenous people of that country — was refused entry to a hot spring bathing facility in Eniwa, Hokkaido, because of tattoos on her face.

In March 2016, the Japan Tourism Agency recommended bathhouse operators make some efforts for foreign tourists with tattoos. This could include asking such foreign users to cover their tattoos with tape; encouraging them to use the facilities during times when fewer families are bathing; and guiding them to bathing spaces that can be privately rented.