My tattoo in Shibuya

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

That's awesome man well done! I really like how the tattoo symbolizes a wall of protection for your family and friends. Very nice. I have always liked looking at other people's and I intend to get some of my own.

Thanks for uploading the video on youtube. It's cool seeing it get done. I also gave a comment...
Now you have more of a reason to walk around with your shirt off, so all the ladies can look at you, while the men get jealous. hahaa

(when you get the other ones, be sure to post images and show us.)

[Housetek]

ill be sure to do so!
i jus gota do some sketches then then wait for my tattoo artist to give me her imput.

I only like having the same tattoo artist do my tattoos.
and i figure if im gona get more kanji then it must be in Japan.

ty for the nice comments =) arigato!!!

i love my family and friends more then any thing in the world.

The people who care for you and the company you keep are a reflection of who you are as a person. And they remind me of how fortunate i am with every breath i take.

And this community just makes me feel better inside and makes me happy.

Arigato arigato arigato a million times!

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

No problem! I'm glad to comment.... You are going to do sketches? Does that mean you are an artist as well? So your going to have that girl in Shibuya do it for you. Do you live in Tokyo or are you just visiting.

It must be really cool having those Kanji tattoos getting done there.

[Housetek]

well im stayin for 3 months this trip, i finished school and i want to get my masters here, since i cant work with out a work visa.

Which is VERY hard to get w/o connections with some one who owns a company that sponsors.

I draw and i sketch but im not that good. i like to give a basic idea of what i want to my tattoo artist, and she is just amazing.

She'll turn my dinky sketches into a beautiful piece of work. I have to go on a day when she doesn't have alot of appointments b/c she makes a few sketches for me and usually ill pick one or 2 and then add new ideas to them.

Shes very understanding that a tattoo is meaningful and lasts forever so we go through many sketches and drawlings b4 things get right.

even if the end result is simple, it takes many sketches to get just the right one i like.

i dont want to just pick somthing out of a book.

as of now ill be here til august, then i return home to get my transcripts then mail them to Temple University Japan and then im going home to Vietnam in the fall to visit my family and then moving to Japan for a year and 1/2 to get my masters Degree in international business.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Have you seen that lady in Shibuya do other ones? Did you meet her by walking in one day, or you had been there before?

Yeah, I understand how that is. Anyone can go to a book and just pick an image that they think looks cool. However, when you make the image yourself, and breath life into it, then it has much more meaning. It is best to create and customize your own tattoo. That way, it have much greater meaning, and has more of a purpose on your body after all, it'll be there forever. You always want it to have a symbol of something. That shows great love, when you want a picture to be a mark for that special person....

That is the way I am, it took me so long to think up my first tattoo. (I still haven't gotten it yet, but it took me so long to think it up.)

Ah, so your Vietnamese. Sometimes it is hard to figure out Asians nationalities. lol

Nice your getting your masters degree in business. How does your family feel about you living there? It is good that you stay so close to them. So many people are so willing to just discard their family and move away when they come of age. I wonder what they'll say about your body art.

[Housetek]

I was a walk in and she was very nice and i liked her artbook. Shes been tattooing in japan and then traveled to Miami to pick up new techniques. Its hard to catch her on a non busy day.

In my family all the males get tattoos at 18+. Well all the ones in the states do, my family in vietnam do not get tattoos.

My father likes mine and was there for the wings. He actually came for a few of the design sessions. He said the arc angel wings were too girly so i we came up with a Asian Style wing thats very rare in paintings. That show long asian dragons with wings, which is very rare to see. I like the design alot so we went with it.

My parents always want me at home but like my father said, you put any person in our family any where in the country and we'll succeed. So he belives ill make it any where.

I wasnt even a legal citizen in America til 10 yrs old, and i came over at 1.

My mom even likes my tattoos and she doesnt mind as long as it is not past the elbows or can be seen wearing a dress shirt.

She has her lipstick and eyebrows tattooed on as well well as my grandma.
My sister has a tattoo of love on her hip in chinese.
my father has a dragon fighting a tiger on his left and a giant skull breathing smoke on his right. which orginally was a dragon but due to a motorcycle accident it was totally ruined and this was the only way to salvage it due to the intense scarring dark colors had to be used.

What are your plans for your tattoo?
id like to see some sketches or somthing
any thing with that much time put into must be great!

[MariYa]

Good luck in earning your masters. Do you have to speak Japanese well in order to go to Temple college? I was looking at that college couple of months ago for psychology major. My family is oldfashioned and they dont want me to get a tattoo. I respect their opinion , but I still want a tattoo. Not to upset them, I will get a small one but with a meaning on the back of my neck so my hair can cover it if I go somewhere to a formal dinner with my family. Or I might get it on my lower left stomach. I'm going to Japan August 2008, so may be I'll get a tattoo there. For now Ihave to figure out my design. The thing is if it is not in my parents' taste it is wrong to them, but I still love them. I understand them cause most of their life they lived among old culture ( from another country) and it is sometimes hard to start thinking differently from what they used to and from how THEY grew up.

[Housetek]

Originally Posted by MariYa

Good luck in earning your masters. Do you have to speak Japanese well in order to go to Temple college? I was looking at that college couple of months ago for psychology major. My family is oldfashioned and they dont want me to get a tattoo. I respect their opinion , but I still want a tattoo. Not to upset them, I will get a small one but with a meaning on the back of my neck so my hair can cover it if I go somewhere to a formal dinner with my family. Or I might get it on my lower left stomach. I'm going to Japan August 2008, so may be I'll get a tattoo there. For now Ihave to figure out my design. The thing is if it is not in my parents' taste it is wrong to them, but I still love them. I understand them cause most of their life they lived among old culture ( from another country) and it is sometimes hard to start thinking differently from what they used to and from how THEY grew up.

You do not need to know any japanese to go to Temple Japan.
They teach all of their courses in English, its just a sister branch of Temple.

Yea i understand if your from a different country then they are strict about certain things. The thing is my Father is not the average Vietnamese man.

He was labeled a traitor to his country and a rebel for not fighting in a war he did not believe in, also the same war which took most of his family including my grandfather.

He was always the type that would break the boundaries of what would be deemed normal in vietnamese culture.
During my entire life, he never put any rules or boundaries on me. I could do what ever i want, w/o consequences.

But he would lecture me in his philosophies in life and spend a lot of time with me being my friend and a great father figure. At the same time he came to America not knowing any English working multiple jobs just to support my poor family who lived in a trailer park in Pa.

So it was never in my nature to disappoint my parents and just finding the right thing to do my self. And what ever i did, i knew they supported me.

The tattoo was a lil big in his opinion but the meaning behind it justified it.

[NanteNa]

It's really beautiful. ^__^v

[MariYa]

I'm sorry about your family who was killed in the war. I respect your father and his choice not to fight for something he doesn't believe in. Same thing is going on right now with Iraq.. A lot of people now (ex soldiers) believe that it was waste of lives and money on that war. I think so too. It is very hard to live here and have everything you wish. People who want to come here think it is so easy in the USA. But really, you have to work hard and may be even multiple jobs to have a decent life with health insurance roof under your head, food and education... Sometimes I think I'm a disappointment to my parents cause they are such perfectionists and I'm not.