[Columbine]

We understand where you're coming from Jay, but this isn't about OUR personal views of tattoos. Personally I don't mind them, but in Japan, as has already been pointed out, there's a huge social stigma associated with tattoos.

Point in case; at the games festival in Tokyo this very week, a British game designer was reported in the Daily Telegraph talking about the difficulties foreign designers have breaking into the Japanese market and his exact point was that in the UK it's standard to have a protagonist with tattoos but that isn't allowed in Japan. Same with characters with missing fingers.