Japanese Sleeves?
Discussion
Hi,
What is your opinion on Japanese sleeves?
I've already got a few tattoos and in the next few years want to design a 1/2 - 3/4 sleeve.
I love Japanese style tattoos.
The issue I have is that I am a white British male - if I was to visit japan would they find it offense?/should I cover up/should I feel embarrassed by it?
For example - The other half has 2 sugar skulls / Day of the dead on her thighs - when we went through New Mexico in USA she covered up for fear of anyone taking offence.
Do you have a Japanese style sleeve? what is your opinion?
Cheers.
What is your opinion on Japanese sleeves?
I've already got a few tattoos and in the next few years want to design a 1/2 - 3/4 sleeve.
I love Japanese style tattoos.
The issue I have is that I am a white British male - if I was to visit japan would they find it offense?/should I cover up/should I feel embarrassed by it?
For example - The other half has 2 sugar skulls / Day of the dead on her thighs - when we went through New Mexico in USA she covered up for fear of anyone taking offence.
Do you have a Japanese style sleeve? what is your opinion?
Cheers.
council thread The Japanese would have a huge issue with any tattoo. They are still seen as a sign of Yakuza and though many Japanese under 40 have them no one really tallks about the fact they have them.
If you ever planned on going to a hotspring you wouldnt be able to go to a communal one, and even for a private one you would need to ensure the owners didnt see any signs of a tattoo on your way in.
A friend of mine has quite liberal parents in that she has married a westerner and they habe welcomed him into the family, she still darent tell them she has a tattoo and she is nearly 40!
If you ever planned on going to a hotspring you wouldnt be able to go to a communal one, and even for a private one you would need to ensure the owners didnt see any signs of a tattoo on your way in.
A friend of mine has quite liberal parents in that she has married a westerner and they habe welcomed him into the family, she still darent tell them she has a tattoo and she is nearly 40!
Mastodon2 said:
I really doubt the Mexicans or the Japanese will give a s
t tbh.
Correct, they won't give a ft tbh.k, because, despite the hipsters best efforts to convince each other otherwise, tattoo's mean fk all, apart from that the wearer will have a saggy looking weird inking thing when they are older. Mastodon2 said:
I really doubt the Mexicans or the Japanese will give a st tbh.
The Japanese do because tattoos are commonly associated with the Yazkuza. t tbh.If you visit an onsen, you may be refused if you have a lot of body art. Generally speaking, Chinese people laugh at foreigners with Chinese tatoos [characters] because the vast majority have no idea what the character means, or it means something completely different to what the person who asked for it, intended. I assume this is the same for Japanese. The only time I saw any Japanese with body art was 3 Japanese guys in an onsen in Hakone - all 3 had full-on body art covering their backs; one I recall (the youngest out of the 3) had bright red briefs and cropped blonde hair. All stood out like sore thumbs as Yakuza, or some kind of gang.
Edit: beaten to it by 9 minutes
Sheetmaself said:
The Japanese would have a huge issue with any tattoo. They are still seen as a sign of Yakuza and though many Japanese under 40 have them no one really tallks about the fact they have them.
If you ever planned on going to a hotspring you wouldnt be able to go to a communal one, and even for a private one you would need to ensure the owners didnt see any signs of a tattoo on your way in.
A friend of mine has quite liberal parents in that she has married a westerner and they habe welcomed him into the family, she still darent tell them she has a tattoo and she is nearly 40!
^^^ This, totally. Tattoos are still seen as being symbols of shame (and crime) in Japan and you would receive even shorter shrift by displaying them. (Source: Japanese friends and staying in Tokyo myself)If you ever planned on going to a hotspring you wouldnt be able to go to a communal one, and even for a private one you would need to ensure the owners didnt see any signs of a tattoo on your way in.
A friend of mine has quite liberal parents in that she has married a westerner and they habe welcomed him into the family, she still darent tell them she has a tattoo and she is nearly 40!
robsa said:
^^^ This, totally. Tattoos are still seen as being symbols of shame (and crime) in Japan and you would receive even shorter shrift by displaying them. (Source: Japanese friends and staying in Tokyo myself)
Yeah I think I naively stumbled onto this when (living in Camden, where tattoo's are as common as hair dye) I commented on all the cool tatoos my Japanese flatmate had and she acted as though I'd just caught her in some embarrasing situation- she never spoke about them.Totally amazing how cultures can view the same thing so differently, some of my Brit pals virtually start stripping off when someone asks about them!
Japanese style tattoos can look fantastic if done well, im not sure about sleeves though, seems like they are usually done on the body and dont quite look right on the arms.
Im sure there are tattoo artists out there who specialise in some sort of contemporary Japanese style. Id be more concerned about finding tattooists who actually know what they are doing than what other people might think.
Im sure there are tattoo artists out there who specialise in some sort of contemporary Japanese style. Id be more concerned about finding tattooists who actually know what they are doing than what other people might think.
Nothing wrong with tattoos, but my view is that if you are going to have something large and on display they must work as art that can be enjoyed. So don't have anything on your body that you would not give to your granny/child/boss to hang in their front room! If it fails two of these three, it's a no go.
Think about what you look like with the tattoo rather than what that the tattoo looks like on you. I suppose what I mean is, people won't judge you based on your tattoo, they will judge you based on your appearance. Ie the whole canvas, not one part of it.
My observation of tattoo sleeves is that because they solidly cover a large area the more mellow designs look better than the striking ones. So go for either small and striking or large and mellow. I saw some Van Gogh inspired sleeves and as a form of art I thought they were impressive.
Think about what you look like with the tattoo rather than what that the tattoo looks like on you. I suppose what I mean is, people won't judge you based on your tattoo, they will judge you based on your appearance. Ie the whole canvas, not one part of it.
My observation of tattoo sleeves is that because they solidly cover a large area the more mellow designs look better than the striking ones. So go for either small and striking or large and mellow. I saw some Van Gogh inspired sleeves and as a form of art I thought they were impressive.
eltax91 said:
...despite the hipsters best efforts to convince each other otherwise, tattoo's mean fk all, apart from that the wearer will have a saggy looking weird inking thing when they are older.
Absolutely this! k all, apart from that the wearer will have a saggy looking weird inking thing when they are older. 
I remember a thread on tattoos once before on here. Someone made a comment about how it would all be a bit embarrassing in twenty years time when you're middle aged and they're a decade out of fashion.
Someone replied 'Ah, but at least the person with the tattoo will have had an interesting life' as though wandering into a shop and getting someone to scribble on you is the very definition of having lived life to the full!
It's all personal choice of course, but I notice a lot of very poor tattoos.
I was chatting to a girl on the tube a few months ago, and the conversation got on to her tattoos, and he was showing me the stars and st on her wrist "as these have special meaning and make me an individual" or some such ste....
Her friend next to her then showed me hers, and would you believe it, she had more or less the same tattoos in the same place, what are the odds? Idiots.
The amount of guys I see with shocking scripts visible on the side of their necks...Bellends.
If I think back to the Tattoos people were getting when I was 18, so 20 years ago, all would be tragic now....barb wire on the upper arms, arse antlers, Japanese script....terrible.
I expect what is popular today is again, fashion. Let's see how "individual" people feel in 10-15 years when they are sat next to each other in the waiting room of a Tat removal place, all with near identical st scrawled on them.
I was chatting to a girl on the tube a few months ago, and the conversation got on to her tattoos, and he was showing me the stars and s
t on her wrist "as these have special meaning and make me an individual" or some such ste....Her friend next to her then showed me hers, and would you believe it, she had more or less the same tattoos in the same place, what are the odds? Idiots.
The amount of guys I see with shocking scripts visible on the side of their necks...Bellends.
If I think back to the Tattoos people were getting when I was 18, so 20 years ago, all would be tragic now....barb wire on the upper arms, arse antlers, Japanese script....terrible.
I expect what is popular today is again, fashion. Let's see how "individual" people feel in 10-15 years when they are sat next to each other in the waiting room of a Tat removal place, all with near identical s
t scrawled on them.
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