Toks Fale remembers the first time he was refused entry to a Japanese bath.

Key points: Japan is hosting this year's Rugby World Cup at various venues around the country

Japan is hosting this year's Rugby World Cup at various venues around the country Beppu city has published a website listing the hundred or so onsen that do allow tattoos

Beppu city has published a website listing the hundred or so onsen that do allow tattoos Oita prefecture wants tattooed visitors to enjoy the region known as Japan's "onsen capital"

In 2001 he was in the country playing rugby when the team went to a hot pool after a game.

"When we got there, we were stopped at the door and because they couldn't speak English, they just pointed to a sign on the wall which had a guy [with] tattoos with a big cross on it, so that's when I found out," he says with a laugh.

Sorry, this audio has expired Japan to make onsens more tattoo-friendly

Born in Tonga, and sporting plenty of traditional and more modern tattoos, Toks says it can be hard to find one of Japan's thousands of thermal springs — known as "onsen" — that will let him in.

Bathing in onsen is usually done in the nude and the tradition stretches back hundreds of years.

So does the taboo surrounding tattoos.

Many players from New Zealand's rugby team the All Blacks sport tattoos. ( Reuters: Issei Kato, File )

If you're sporting some ink you might find it difficult to enjoy one of the country's favourite pastimes, with many bathing houses having a strict "no tattoos" policy.

But in a bid to change that attitude and encourage tourists to visit the area, the region known as the "onsen capital" of Japan, Oita prefecture, is expected to publish in March a list of places that will readily accept tattoo-clad customers ahead of the World Rugby World Cup.

One city in the prefecture has already published a list of about 100 onsen willing to allow those with tattoos to enter.

Why are tattoos taboo in Japan?

Many Japanese bathing houses have a strict "no tattoos" policy. ( Supplied: Oita Prefecture Tourism Association )

Tattooing has been practised in Japan from at least the third century.

While at times they were considered fashionable, especially among lower classes, tattoos used to identify and punish criminals.

They were also adopted by organised crime gangs, known as "Yakuza", and banned between the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II.

Yuko Yamasaki from the Oita Prefecture Tourism Association says tattoos are still heavily associated with criminals.

"The big reason why onsen refuse tattooed people is that they are so easy to see and it will scare away other customers," Ms Yamasaki says.

People with smaller tattoos may be asked to cover up before entering an onsen, but people with larger designs that can't be covered easily can find it harder to be admitted to public baths.

More recently, some tattoo artists have even been arrested because of an old law that says tattoos can only be done by doctors.

'They're more than just a body adornment'

Japan has thousands of thermal springs, known as "onsen". ( Supplied: Oita Prefecture Tourism Association )

Toks Fale — the aforementioned former rugby player who is now a professional wrestler — currently lives in Tokyo and where he is better known by his stage name "Bad Luck Fale" or "The Underboss".

But he says the attitude to tattoos hasn't changed much since he first travelled to Japan about 20 years ago.

"Being there for almost 20 years it's still the same, I still get stopped places," he says.

"Sometimes I pretend I don't know anything, and I just walk right through [and] they either let me be or they come after me later."

Tama Tonga, left, and Toks Fale, are both professional wrestlers in Japan. ( Supplied: Jeremy Belinfante )

He says he has found onsen that will allow him to enter but those venues often cater to Yakuza clients.

"It's very intimidating because when you're in there you know these guys are part of the mafia."

But in Polynesian communities like Toks' birthplace of Tonga, and throughout Polynesia, the attitude to tattoos is very different.

"We don't call them tattoos [because] they're more than just a body adornment," Jordan Clarke says.

He works at Otautahi tattoo parlour in Auckland but explains that traditional Polynesian designs are known as "tatau", or "ta moko" in Maori culture.

"There's a deeper meaning to the whole process … it speaks to the wearer's genealogy."

Wayne Hapi, a Maori tattoo artist who lives in Melbourne, says that getting a tatau or ta moko is often seen as a rite of passage.

"My son he was 15 when I gave him his first tattoo but it was earned," he says.

"It was a thing where he had to go and learn from our culture, a song, a prayer and things like that. That was what I wanted him to do to earn it."

Could cultures collide at the Rugby World Cup?

New Zealand's All Blacks during a training session in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, last November. ( Reuters: Issei Kato )

Japan is hosting this year's Rugby World Cup at various venues around the country.

With plenty of players sporting tattoos, including traditional Polynesian designs, New Zealand's rugby team the All Blacks have already said they'd respect local custom and cover up when they're in Japan.

But one of the country's 47 administrative divisions, known as "prefectures", is actively working to make sure tattooed visitors can enjoy the region known as the "onsen capital" of Japan.

Oita prefecture is actively working to make sure tattooed visitors can enjoy Japan's onsen capital. ( Reuters: Action Images/Ed Sykes, File )

Oita prefecture is home to both Oita city, which will host some of the World Cup matches, and Beppu city, which is famous for its hot springs.

Beppu has already published a website listing the hundred or so onsen that do allow tattoos, and now Yuko Yamasaki is gathering information about hot springs that accept tattoos in the wider prefecture.

"We want everyone to enjoy onsen," she says.

"I think recently the perception of tattoos in Japan is also changing and many young people also have them. It's time to change."

With many international rugby players and their fans hailing from the Pacific, Toks Fale says the move makes sense.

"I have been to Oita and Beppu and there are a lot of islanders [who] are going to school there," he says.

"And if they want to capitalise on the fans and tourists [who] are going to be there for the Rugby World Cup, and also the Olympics next year, they need to ease up on it because I'd say most of the foreigners who come to Japan have tattoos."