Tattoos...more for kicks

[misterkurukuru]

that other thread was getting heavy, so i wanted to open this one up!

a Japanese person comes to you and shows you their tattoo which represents your culture. what would it be?

polo player
a cowboy
g-unit
chicken and waffles
a baseball player
smog


list your own

[Fonsz]

The golden arches of McDonalds on their shoulder or biceps or maybe an intimate spot.

I take it you frown upon tattoos with other culture stuff? Well if you do then I'm with you. If you don't then my bad.

[misterkurukuru]

I dont really care, some tattoos look great, but a kendo tattoo is a little puzzling to me.
its like getting a Kentucky derby tattoo (horse racing)
or a fencer tattoo. I dont know, I'd just say, "out of all the things to
decorate/enhance your body with, you picked that?"
people can tatt themselves up all they want
unless you have tweedy bird or the Tasmanian devil on your ass.

[Paburo]

unless you have tweedy bird or the Tasmanian devil on your ass.

one of my old schoolmates, a weirdo guy of the ghetto-gang type, actually had a tweety bird tattoo on his arm. which he sported proudly.... wtf?

[Kapplow]

My 18 year old sister just got these. She also has a tatt of a old school pinup girl on her entire left flank. In my 25 years on this planet, I've changed in personality and opinion so many times I would never get anything on my body that I'd be stuck with for life. Unless it was so small it could be easily removed.

eff'ing cadillac for cryin out loud! Soooo stupid. This is what happens when a 18 year old is making $750/week. Most kids can't afford to do something that idiotic.

[MikeW]

a Japanese person comes to you and shows you their tattoo which represents your culture. what would it be?

Skull and roses

[Lady_Kitsune]

Ok... I think it would be

Pin up girls(north american culture is everywhere)
Copihues (chilean flower)
Huaso chileno (is like a cowboy for north americans)
Quiltro dog (a mutt)
A condor (our national bird)
Chilean flag


yeah that would be it for now, i mean I think i can think of more Chilean things, but not now

[Rob W.]

Part of the point of tattoos is that they can't be removed, and they're with you for life. It's sad to me that many chose tattoos as a fashion accessory, especially those who walk into a shop and choose a random piece of flash off the wall. That said, different things have different meanings to people: tweety bird and taz tattoos are symbols of toughness in certain subcultures (for real), and one-point tattoos drawn directly from flash have a lot of history in America. I don't think you can directly judge a person from their tattoos (unless it's nazi swastikas and slogans), but you can certainly say that you wouldn't get the same designs, or that you don't understand their decision.

kapplow: $750 a week? I need that job. At least it looks like her work is being done by a skilled artist.

[Rob W.]

Oh, and by the way, many Japanese young people do get traditional American / Sailor Jerry one-point style tattoos nowadays. They're much, MUCH more popular than the irezumi traditional Japanese style tattoos. I think it's a really interesting example of cultural cross-pollination.

The types of tattoos that young Japanese choose to get, however, are quite different from the irezumi of traditional Japan. Irezumi still possess extremely negative connotations. The tattoos popular among young Japanese (and a very small percentage of young Japanese at that) resemble American-style tattoos. The two types are referred to as "one-point" (Herskovitz) and eccentric (Eccentric Tattoo Shop) tattoos. One-point tattoos are small, single-sitting applications. The demand for such tattoos is clearly evidenced by the more than 100 one-point tattoo parlors in Tokyo alone. Typical one-point designs include samples from rock culture, animals such as butterflies and dragons, cartoon characters, roses, and various tribal patterns. Hideo, a popular one-point artist in Shibuya, says that his clients range from ages 18 to 30. Of his customers 70 percent are male and 30 percent are female (Herskovitz).

FEEDBACK:

A group of Japanese students was given a questionnaire as part of this research project. Because all of the students came from the same region of Japan and came from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, the results of this questionnaire may be biased. In any case, the respondents overwhelmingly opposed tattooing. They felt uncomfortable about having friends get tattoos. They doubted the idea that any of their friends would get tattoos, but felt that if that happened, the tattoo would definitely effect their friendship. The Japanese respondents relayed societal attitudes towards tattoos. One respondent said, "Size is not the problem, but existence itself is a problem." The Japanese respondents said their parents would be against their getting tattoos. If any of the respondents would get a tattoo, they preferred American-style, one-point designs. They associated the Japanese designs with violence, danger, contamination, and yakuza. Interestingly, one of the respondents said she knew someone with large tattoos.

From History and Stigma of Japanese Tattooing, pretty well researched and footnoted article, albiet by someone not directly connected to tattooing in Japan or the states.

[Kapplow]

kapplow: $750 a week? I need that job. At least it looks like her work is being done by a skilled artist.

She works as a apprentice hair stylist at an upscale salon in ATL. She'll be buying me a fresh pair of kote for xmas. She has no idea how good she has it.

[Martijn]

I've no clue which sensei it was, I believe it was Ishido sensei, he had two little Dutch souvenir-clogs hanging from his maehimo.

[Alison2805]

I dont really care, some tattoos look great, but a kendo tattoo is a little puzzling to me.
its like getting a Kentucky derby tattoo (horse racing)
or a fencer tattoo. I dont know, I'd just say, "out of all the things to
decorate/enhance your body with, you picked that?"

Precisely because noone else would. Noone unless they are a kendoka knows what it is. That makes it very special.

For something Aussie, Ive seen someone with the SuperRoo on their arm - cant get more macho/aussie/yobbo than that.

[Lady_Kitsune]

From History and Stigma of Japanese Tattooing, pretty well researched and footnoted article, albiet by someone not directly connected to tattooing in Japan or the states.

Good link, I liked it

Does someone know about the tattooed geisha's myth or is just a western confusion with the tattooed juyô?

[Ignatz]

I'm down with the chicken and waffles. Roscoe be the man.

[stephanie dee]

a Japanese person comes to you and shows you their tattoo which represents your culture. what would it be?

A bottle of vodka unfortunatly. Binge drinking culture over here in England has taken over, my own sister has fallen to it.

As for tattoos in general..... I don't mind them on other people, but I am too flighty, I couldn't get any one thing tattooed on me, i'd love it the first day, hate it the next!

People should chill out when it comes to tattoos. It does my head in when people are against them. Call them (tats) what you want, stupid, decoration, creative... end of the day it was their choice to get them done, it doesn't harm or affect anyone else, so what does it matter, and more to the point who cares? You don't like tats, don't get one.