Traveling with tattoos in Japan

A follow-up to this blog from our Writer in Tokyo.

So I think we might have doubled the count since last I wrote and are up to 10 total people with visible tattoos.  Maybe there were a few more as today I spent some time in Daikanyama, which seemed to have a more eclectic, free-spirit vibe, and truthfully I was seeing so few tattoos here, it began to get too hard to count and recall period.

The fact does remain, however, that tattoos in Japan, visible at least, are not very common.  Living in Hawaii, a place without the historical negative perception of tattoos combined with people wishing to connect to different ethnic traditions that make up the islands, tattoos are common, accepted (for the most part), and as much as fashion as they are meaningful.  Another reason we are #luckywelivehawaii.

I must conclude that traveling with tattoos in Japan is not a big deal for foreigners.  You get looks but that could very much be because you look much different in general and that’s that.

Good luck fellow sojourners!  Rock your ink wherever you find yourself!