Tattoo

[Lien]

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This is mine, but I want to check if it really means what I think it means. As long as it doesn't say 'Tampon' it's fine by me :3

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by Lien

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is mine, but I want to check if it really means what I think it means. As long as it doesn't say 'Tampon' it's fine by me :3

it means eternity. it looks like kid's drawing though.

[Lien]

Originally Posted by ryuurui

it means eternity. it looks like kid's drawing though.

Haha ok thanks Ah well I like it that way

[Supperman]

Originally Posted by Lien

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is mine, but I want to check if it really means what I think it means. As long as it doesn't say 'Tampon' it's fine by me :3

永　means "eternity", "a long time", and I think it was written fairly well. Much better than kids' drawing.

[WingsToDiscovery]

I have a question about a tattoo, but it's unrelated to the OP. I just didn't want to make a new thread.

So as far as right now goes, I have zero tattoos. I'd never really wanted that one THAT badly, and especially when I toyed around with the idea of going to Japan, I kind of actually used some of that as a justification for not getting one. Everyone knows about the stigma of having tattoos in Japan (although I've never seen the same answer twice), but every time I've seen an inquiry about tattoos in Japan,it's always after the OP already has a tattoo and is concerned about how it will affect them in Japan.

My case is a bit different though, since I don't actually have a tattoo yet. The reason why I brought the topic up now, however, is because I've been considering getting one while I'm on vacation in the US. The tattoo concept itself is a tribute piece to one of my best friends who had an untimely death last year, and the design itself pulls inspiration from one of his own tattoos (This is really just saying that it's not something stupid like a kanji).

But I'm afraid that people may not care about what the tattoo represents but instead simply that it's a tattoo. It's popular in western culture to get things like tattoos, but I'm afraid Japanese society may not be so accommodating to my cultural choice.

So if you don't have a tattoo now, would you consider getting one anyway even if you were planning on living in Japan? If you already do have one and are in Japan, do you regret having it and would have refrained from getting it if you knew you were going to be living in Japan?

[RealJames]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I have a question about a tattoo, but it's unrelated to the OP. I just didn't want to make a new thread.

So as far as right now goes, I have zero tattoos. I'd never really wanted that one THAT badly, and especially when I toyed around with the idea of going to Japan, I kind of actually used some of that as a justification for not getting one. Everyone knows about the stigma of having tattoos in Japan (although I've never seen the same answer twice), but every time I've seen an inquiry about tattoos in Japan,it's always after the OP already has a tattoo and is concerned about how it will affect them in Japan.

My case is a bit different though, since I don't actually have a tattoo yet. The reason why I brought the topic up now, however, is because I've been considering getting one while I'm on vacation in the US. The tattoo concept itself is a tribute piece to one of my best friends who had an untimely death last year, and the design itself pulls inspiration from one of his own tattoos (This is really just saying that it's not something stupid like a kanji).

But I'm afraid that people may not care about what the tattoo represents but instead simply that it's a tattoo. It's popular in western culture to get things like tattoos, but I'm afraid Japanese society may not be so accommodating to my cultural choice.

So if you don't have a tattoo now, would you consider getting one anyway even if you were planning on living in Japan? If you already do have one and are in Japan, do you regret having it and would have refrained from getting it if you knew you were going to be living in Japan?

My point of view, I imagine, wouldn't differ much from yours since we're in similar situations. But here it goes anyways,

Tattoos on foreigners are perceived very differently by the vast majority of the population than tattoos on Japanese people, and even these days tattoos on Japanese people, if clearly artistic, are perceived as acceptable by a growing, yet small, part of society.

I don't have a tattoo either, but honestly when students ask me if I have one, and I say no, I swear I catch some disappointment in their eyes!
I think part of meeting a foreigner in Japan is seeing something different, and the more different the more of an experience it is.

It does set you apart though, and if fully integrating into society is your goal, it's the wrong direction.
But if being unique and standing out is part of your role that you capitalize on, it might help your cause.

Regarding public baths and onsen, how often do you really go?
And these days more of these places turn a blind eye to the "fashion" tattoo compared to the yakuza tattoo.

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

I have a question about a tattoo, but it's unrelated to the OP. I just didn't want to make a new thread.

So as far as right now goes, I have zero tattoos. I'd never really wanted that one THAT badly, and especially when I toyed around with the idea of going to Japan, I kind of actually used some of that as a justification for not getting one. Everyone knows about the stigma of having tattoos in Japan (although I've never seen the same answer twice), but every time I've seen an inquiry about tattoos in Japan,it's always after the OP already has a tattoo and is concerned about how it will affect them in Japan.

My case is a bit different though, since I don't actually have a tattoo yet. The reason why I brought the topic up now, however, is because I've been considering getting one while I'm on vacation in the US. The tattoo concept itself is a tribute piece to one of my best friends who had an untimely death last year, and the design itself pulls inspiration from one of his own tattoos (This is really just saying that it's not something stupid like a kanji).

But I'm afraid that people may not care about what the tattoo represents but instead simply that it's a tattoo. It's popular in western culture to get things like tattoos, but I'm afraid Japanese society may not be so accommodating to my cultural choice.

So if you don't have a tattoo now, would you consider getting one anyway even if you were planning on living in Japan? If you already do have one and are in Japan, do you regret having it and would have refrained from getting it if you knew you were going to be living in Japan?

I have a tattoo, in kanji, that actually make no sense to those who do not understand its meaning. It's my pen name, 龍涙, and it is based on a calligraphy work. If anyone asks me why the hell the dragon's tears, I tell them (if i am in a cheeky mood) that even the biggest dragons cry (I am 6.4 and athletic), and that i am a very sensitive alien form. To which they reply, あ,そうなんですか？ And then I do a surprising roar attack from Shrek or Jaws.

1. More and more Japanese have tattoo's so it is not as shocking as it was in Edo period.
2. As James said, we are foreigners, so we are "expected" to have one (I would not expect anything less to be expected of)
3. You can go into public baths, very few won't let you in, and if they don't you call the manager and ask him if he wants you to make a call to Kabukichou.
4. I do not really care if someone likes it or not, it's my tattoo, and I love it (so does my teacher , who is 73, and other 60 years old comrades of the brush, to my great surprise). I did not make it for others to like or understand. Oh yeah, and I live here since 2001.

[WingsToDiscovery]

Thanks for your replies. I asked the same question on Facebook to my friends, and I got like 3 types of responses.
1- "Do it pussy!" : From a couple of military friends
2- "I'm not sure" : From several foreign friends
3- "If a Japanese friend was going to get one, I would maybe tell them no and try to stop them" : From a Japanese girl

Another Japanese girl also said that her work checks for tattoos, although since she's gone through the screening process she might get one anyway. It was just that mainly my western friends were encouraging me, and my Japanese friends were kind of telling me no. Actually, they weren't telling me no outright, simply a kind of "It's okay, you're a foreigner" answer. And I can't stand that. So now I'm really not sure, and it's kind of conflicting because the tattoo itself has so much meaning but I guess that won't transcend the fact that it's still a tattoo in Japan.

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

Another Japanese girl also said that her work checks for tattoos

They undress them and check for tattoos? That could be easily reported to labour office as a harassment. That is just ridiculous and so discriminatory, not to mention narrow-minded.

Anyway, if this is not a tattoo on your forhead it should not be a problem. There are many weird things in Japan. Example: all family enters the bath tub together, with father and daughters at the age of 12 or later, but when my wife was tanning topless on the beach, 15 guys banged the lamp post and 7 of them forgot to breathe or didnt know if they should look or not. Man i wish i had recorded this. They run naked in public baths, and read magazines with naked chicks in them in convinience stores, and yet they cover private parts with pixels on porn movies. They dislike foreigners (not all of them, i know) and can be xenophobic, and yet they wear western fashon, drive foreign cars and love Italian pasta, not to mention that Japanese has nearly 30 000 words in kana, taken from English language. The list goes on. If i was to pay attention to all that mess, i would not be able to live here. So, either you bring your own rules or you will get chewed. You know, your military friends may be right (though their reasoning for saying "do it you pussy" is slightly different from mine) to tell you to go ahead and do whatever you like. Unless you plan to work as a model or the tattoo you are planning to have is really controversial (like the T-shirts in the early years of 2000 n Japan, sold for kids, with the sig "Fist Fuck me". Shirts were pink. )

[GoAway]

If you really want to ruin the rest of your life, then get a tatoo of some anime freak that you will regret having injected with ink into your skin when youre a grandparent.