Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 3:24 pm
Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:29 pm
shuize wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:07 am
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:33 am
Didn't know that was even a thing. But I've never had a tattoo, nor even ever seriously considered getting one.
Anax no doubt knows this, but for our non-Japan based friends, tattoos in Japan cause more trouble than they’re worth. Due to their connection to organized crime, you can be denied entry or forced to cover them at resorts, water parks, gyms, etc.
Does that apply to Gringos, or only Japanese?
It generally applies also to Gaijin, although I did see some talk of loosening the rules recently. (To make it more "tourist friendly")
However, I don't know how far that has gone.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-28/ ... s/10735044
Yes, as Anax says, it's both. Originally directed at the Japanese mafia.
As Anax also says, it might be easing a bit. Thus, the "must cover" accommodations in some places. It used to just be "no entry."
But tattoos are still a bad choice here for anyone expecting to go for job interviews, meet prospective in-laws, etc.
In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any of my university students wearing one.
After I spent several years in Japan as a university student myself, it was strange to go back to the States and started meeting criminal suspects in jail sporting kanji -- often jumbled kanji -- tattoos.
Tattoos don't bother me as much as they used to -- I guess, like Japan, I'm mellowing in my old age. But I'm still not a big fan.
I think I already told this story, but a few years ago I was in a dive class in Thailand with a couple of beautiful young Swedish girls. One of the girls had trouble with her ears and quit. When she came back to meet her friend a few days later she had a very thick, wrap-around tattoo from her wrist to her elbow. It looked like she'd put on a glove and stuck her arm in a barrel of tar. I thought, "Man, such a beautiful girl. What a fucking waste."