In Japan, showing your ink will see you banned from certain places like pools, onsens (bath houses), gyms and many ryokans (Japanese inns).<\/strong><\/h3>\nThough there are a lot of places where a foreign visitor with tattoos can show their ink as they normally might expect to – public streets, subways, most restaurants, etc – and may even receive quiet or overt compliments, a visit to Japan for the tattooed traveller takes extra research and cultural sensitivity. In places where tattoos are banned, being a foreigner won’t give you a free pass.<\/p>\n
Don’t Japanese people have tattoos?<\/strong><\/h3>\nUnlike many countries today, it is rare indeed to see exposed tattoos in Japan. Many Japanese people who enjoy tattoos keep them entirely covered for social reasons, and because of the need for employment. Even\u00a0Yakuza members traditionally contain their extensive ink to areas that sit beneath clothing.<\/p>\n
That doesn’t mean no one in Japan likes tattoos or has them. I received several compliments when mine were visible, and one of my favourite moments on our most recent trip was when I had a summer dress on in the subway and my forearm tattoos were showing. One particularly cool young man seemed quietly fascinated, and rolled up his shirt sleeves silently to reveal the very lower edges of his arm tattoos. We were part of some similar ‘tribe’. No words were exchanged, only a nod that my husband could take his picture as he posed nonchalantly against the train door.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/tattoosubway.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
There is a quiet rebellion against these prevailing rules and social norms in Japan, but it will take a long time before body art gains mainstream acceptance or those who love tattoos and create them are not in some way punished for it in certain circles. For example, a number of major Japanese organisations overtly\u00a0ban employees<\/a> from having any tattoos, and the right-wing Mayor of Osaka made news <\/a>a few years ago demanding to know of any government workers with tattoos – even concealed ones – making it clear he wanted them out. (It should be noted here that it’s not uncommon for organisations outside of Japan to also have strict employee policies regarding visible tattoos and piercings.)<\/p>\nThough perplexing and frustrating for many tattoo-lovers, Japan’s fraught relationship with tattoos has deep rooted cultural origins and that won’t soon change. Where there are set rules in place, anyone who has come up against rules in Japan will know that no one<\/em>, local or foreign, is likely to have a shred of luck bending those rules under any circumstances.<\/p>\nAnd no, it isn’t so simple as ‘they’ll think you are Yakuza’. Japanese people are no fools. They know that tall white person with the backpack and the dolphin tattoo isn’t a member of a local criminal gang. But a tattoo will still see you banned from certain environments, usually politely and with some embarrassment. It’s not personal.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/strong><\/h3>\nThere isn’t a simple, one sentence answer to this, but the consensus\u00a0is that it’s about more than simply keeping Yakuza out of bath houses (though that is relevant).<\/p>\n
A Japanese historian would be better placed to answer the question more fully, but here is some context: There is no firm date for when tattooing first started in Japan but we do know that it took a dark turn at one stage, and for about 1000 years, (yes, one thousand<\/em>) tattooing was used as\u00a0a form of branding and punishment for courtesans, prisoners and criminals in Japan. Notably, some people branded with those tattoos began covering them with unique and beautiful body art. Though tattoos were officially banned, the art form was still practiced, mostly among the ‘lower classes’ or working class people of Japan, and then as My Modern Met<\/a> points out, thanks to foreign sailors in the 19th century, ‘though still an illegal form of art for\u00a0residents of its home country, the Japanese tattoo gained global prominence.’<\/p>\nConsider the fact that tattooing was finally legalised in Japan by the occupation forces in 1948<\/a>. The occupation forces.<\/em>\u00a0That’s rather fraught, and it was not so long ago, either. And it doesn’t stop there.\u00a0As this ABC<\/a> piece points out: ‘Even today, government laws mean that only health practitioners are technically allowed to apply them, leaving tattoo artists in a legal grey zone and pushing body art, for the most part, into the underground.’<\/p>\nOne can see how there might not be a lot of fully qualified Japanese health practitioners deciding to break out in to a new career as a tattoo artist in a country where tattoos and tattoo artists are still discriminated against. These occupations require years of learning and experience. This law isn’t just for show, either. This 2015 article<\/a> points to separate incidents in Osaka and Nagoya where tattoo artists have actually been arrested<\/a>\u00a0for ‘tattooing people without a physician’s licence’. (See the Save Tattooing in Japan<\/a> Facebook page for more.)<\/p>\nIn a nutshell, there are deep-rooted cultural, political, legal and social reasons why tattoos are a complicated matter in Japan, even for the foreign visitor.<\/p>\n
You can show your tattoos in the majority places in Japan – like this cat cafe in Tokyo, below – but unfortunately you will find places where tattoos are banned.<\/p>\n
Unlike many countries today, it is rare indeed to see exposed tattoos in Japan. Many Japanese people who enjoy tattoos keep them entirely covered for social reasons, and because of the need for employment. Even\u00a0Yakuza members traditionally contain their extensive ink to areas that sit beneath clothing.<\/p>\n
That doesn’t mean no one in Japan likes tattoos or has them. I received several compliments when mine were visible, and one of my favourite moments on our most recent trip was when I had a summer dress on in the subway and my forearm tattoos were showing. One particularly cool young man seemed quietly fascinated, and rolled up his shirt sleeves silently to reveal the very lower edges of his arm tattoos. We were part of some similar ‘tribe’. No words were exchanged, only a nod that my husband could take his picture as he posed nonchalantly against the train door.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is a quiet rebellion against these prevailing rules and social norms in Japan, but it will take a long time before body art gains mainstream acceptance or those who love tattoos and create them are not in some way punished for it in certain circles. For example, a number of major Japanese organisations overtly\u00a0ban employees<\/a> from having any tattoos, and the right-wing Mayor of Osaka made news <\/a>a few years ago demanding to know of any government workers with tattoos – even concealed ones – making it clear he wanted them out. (It should be noted here that it’s not uncommon for organisations outside of Japan to also have strict employee policies regarding visible tattoos and piercings.)<\/p>\n Though perplexing and frustrating for many tattoo-lovers, Japan’s fraught relationship with tattoos has deep rooted cultural origins and that won’t soon change. Where there are set rules in place, anyone who has come up against rules in Japan will know that no one<\/em>, local or foreign, is likely to have a shred of luck bending those rules under any circumstances.<\/p>\n And no, it isn’t so simple as ‘they’ll think you are Yakuza’. Japanese people are no fools. They know that tall white person with the backpack and the dolphin tattoo isn’t a member of a local criminal gang. But a tattoo will still see you banned from certain environments, usually politely and with some embarrassment. It’s not personal.<\/p>\n There isn’t a simple, one sentence answer to this, but the consensus\u00a0is that it’s about more than simply keeping Yakuza out of bath houses (though that is relevant).<\/p>\n A Japanese historian would be better placed to answer the question more fully, but here is some context: There is no firm date for when tattooing first started in Japan but we do know that it took a dark turn at one stage, and for about 1000 years, (yes, one thousand<\/em>) tattooing was used as\u00a0a form of branding and punishment for courtesans, prisoners and criminals in Japan. Notably, some people branded with those tattoos began covering them with unique and beautiful body art. Though tattoos were officially banned, the art form was still practiced, mostly among the ‘lower classes’ or working class people of Japan, and then as My Modern Met<\/a> points out, thanks to foreign sailors in the 19th century, ‘though still an illegal form of art for\u00a0residents of its home country, the Japanese tattoo gained global prominence.’<\/p>\n Consider the fact that tattooing was finally legalised in Japan by the occupation forces in 1948<\/a>. The occupation forces.<\/em>\u00a0That’s rather fraught, and it was not so long ago, either. And it doesn’t stop there.\u00a0As this ABC<\/a> piece points out: ‘Even today, government laws mean that only health practitioners are technically allowed to apply them, leaving tattoo artists in a legal grey zone and pushing body art, for the most part, into the underground.’<\/p>\n One can see how there might not be a lot of fully qualified Japanese health practitioners deciding to break out in to a new career as a tattoo artist in a country where tattoos and tattoo artists are still discriminated against. These occupations require years of learning and experience. This law isn’t just for show, either. This 2015 article<\/a> points to separate incidents in Osaka and Nagoya where tattoo artists have actually been arrested<\/a>\u00a0for ‘tattooing people without a physician’s licence’. (See the Save Tattooing in Japan<\/a> Facebook page for more.)<\/p>\n In a nutshell, there are deep-rooted cultural, political, legal and social reasons why tattoos are a complicated matter in Japan, even for the foreign visitor.<\/p>\n You can show your tattoos in the majority places in Japan – like this cat cafe in Tokyo, below – but unfortunately you will find places where tattoos are banned.<\/p>\nWhy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n