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KyleGoetz (Offline)
Attorney at Flaw
 
Posts: 2,965
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
12-24-2008, 06:26 AM

Quote:
So i ask you, if i were to get my name tatooed on me in katakana, would you find it funny? Can you explain this please?

If i saw someone with their name done in english.. id find it vain i suppose but i wouldnt laugh at them..?
I'd find it funny if you didn't speak Japanese very well.

And if I saw someone who clearly didn't speak English with a tattoo in English, I'd find it both stupid of them and I'd view it as the latest attempt for foreigners to fetishize the English language.

Tattooing yourself in Japanese if you don't speak the language goes hand in hand with talking about "ching chong slant eye karate kung fu manchu." It's objectification of an entire culture.

You're picking a "symbol" because it's cool instead of because it means something to you. Because if you don't speak the language, the kanji doesn't mean anything to you.

However, if you speak Japanese (or are ethnically Japanese), feel free to ink Japanese on you without me thinking you're a moron who is objectifying an entire culture and contributing to international misunderstandings.

Sorry, but people getting tattoos in languages they don't understand is a pet peeve of mine. Why don't you people just get a tattoo in a language you understand? Oh, that's right, because those funny characters so are frigging extreme and awesome, man!!

And then when people get bad tattoos of kanji, they're both objectifying the culture and saying I don't care enough about this culture to even make sure it's properly constructed! It's objectification and simultaneous disrespect.
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