Originally Posted by
jib71
I believe LaQua qualifies. It's also not a bad spa for those days when you really don't have time to leave town - quite tasteful and the masseurs are pretty good IME. The upper floor which has some mixed-sex saunas and relaxation areas (everyone wearing pyjamas) is very nice for couples who want to hold hands in a sauna.
I seem to recall that LaQua is open from the early afternoon until something like 8 or 9 AM -- at least, I have on a few 24h layovers (or something) in NRT simply left my baggage in the airport, taken the train to Tokyo and onsen'ed/slumbered off in their relaxation area of LaQua until it was time to head back to the airport -- thus avoiding the whole uncharming airport-hotel-thing. Why yes, there's a pool for "sleeping" (shallow water, just enough to cover a normal-sized body when horizontal, and with a thing to put your head on), and there's a lounge-like area with recliners and a bar
If anyone finds a stupid gaijin sleeping at length in LaQua, try to poke it and say "hey FlyerTalk" to see if it might be me
Something that I didn't see in the org. post, and which I think bears mention for Onsen-neophytes, is, that many onsen prohibit guests with tattoos due to the stigma such carries in Japan. Not all, though: notably, I've been rubbing shoulders and had very interesting conversations and subsequent "nights in the town" by some full-body-tattooed Japanese gentlemen (we all know what they are, yes?) in Kyoto.
Still, if you've got tattoo's, then I advice to verify if a given onsen will allow you in before going there.