TORECO

TORECO (トレコ) turns onsen into trading cards. Each participating facility, from old ryokan and resort hotels to municipal baths and saunas, sells its own original card at the front desk for around 200 yen, with a photo of the place on the front and its spring quality (senshitsu, 泉質) and bathing highlights on the back. A facility's card is sold only at the facility itself, so the collection grows the way an onsen logbook should: one visit at a time.

How it works

• Physical cards (toreka-ban, トレカ版). Buy the card at the front desk after your soak. A serial code on the back registers it into the free TORECO app, giving you a digital twin of the exact card you hold.
• Digital cards (dejitaru-ban, デジタル版). Some facilities also (or instead) offer a free digital card: scan the QR poster at the entrance with the app and it lands straight in your collection.
• SHOP TORECO. A handful of facilities sell their cards through TORECO's own branded card shops as well.

The app keeps your collection in "My TORECO", shows a map of participating facilities, and adds light collector fun on top: torepo (トレポ) points, want-lists and card-count rankings.

There is no stamp sheet and no completion prize. Like a goshuin (御朱印) book, this is a keepsake collection, a Reiwa-era answer to the pennants and lantern straps travelers once brought home from hot springs. You simply buy, or scan, the cards of the baths you have actually visited.

Behind the program

TORECO is run by TORECO Co. (株式会社TORECO) from Osaka. The onsen line launched in October 2023 with about 50 facilities in seven prefectures and has since spread across the country, with sauna, ramen and temple-and-shrine cards joining along the way. The facility list on this page comes directly from TORECO and covers the onsen, bathing and sauna facilities in the program.