![Growing tribe of Japanese proudly defies tattoo taboo, eyes Olympics boost [Video]](https://tattoos.news/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5f97d6c063753c0f3501eb9c_o_U_v2.jpg "Growing tribe of Japanese proudly defies tattoo taboo, eyes Olympics boost [Video] 1")
VIDEO SHOWS: FEMALE TATTOO ARTIST TATTOOING A CLIENT / JAPANESE PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS DOING VARIOUS ACTIVITIES AND SPEAKING ABOUT JAPANESE TATTOO CULTURE / MAN WITH AMPUTATED LEG SHOWING OFF TATTOOS / MAN WITH TATTOOS SURFING / MEN WITH TATTOOS IN JAPANESE BATH / PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS AT TATTOO PARTY
SHOWS:
WARABI, JAPAN (FILE – SEPTEMBER 4, 2020) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
1. VARIOUS OF TRADITIONAL JAPANESE TATTOO ARTIST SHODAI HORIREN TATTOOING WOMAN’S BACK
2. HORIREN TAKING PHOTOGRAPH OF WOMAN’S BACK TO SHOW HER WORK
3. VARIOUS OF HORIREN, WHO HAS ENTIRE HEAD TATTOOED, PREPARING INK FOR TATTOOING
4. VARIOUS OF HORIREN PREPARING NEEDLE
5. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TRADITIONAL JAPANESE TATTOO ARTIST, SHODAI HORIREN, SAYING:
“A tattoo will completely be with you till you die. For instance, a home might collapse, you could break up with a lover. Youngsters develop up and go away. However a tattoo is a part of your physique and will likely be with you all of your life. That is the enchantment.”
TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE – SEPTEMBER 7, 2020) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
6. AMPUTEE HIDEYUKI TOGASHI PUTTING ON SHIRT OVER TATTOOS
7. TATTOO ON TOGASHI’S STUMP WHERE AMPUTATION TOOK PLACE
8. VARIOUS OF TOGASHI PUTTING ON PROSTHETIC LEG
9. VARIOUS OF TOGASHI WALKING
10. VARIOUS OF TOGASHI POSING WITH TATTOOS
11. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TATTOOED AMPUTEE, HIDEYUKI TOGASHI, SAYING:
“Though I misplaced tattoos on this a part of (my leg), I turned mentally stronger because of tattoos, so it was fast for me to recover from it (the shock of amputation).”
ONJUKU BEACH, JAPAN (RECENT – OCTOBER 4, 2020) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
12. VARIOUS OF TATTOOED SURFER TAKASHI MIKAJIRI WALKING TO BEACH WITH SURFBOARD
13. VARIOUS OF MIKAJIRI WALKING ON BEACH
14. MIKAJIRI PUTTING ON WETSUIT OVER TATTOOS
15. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF MIKAJIRI SURFING
16. MIKAJIRI SURFING
17. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF MIKAJIRI LYING ON SURFBOARD
TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE – SEPTEMBER 24, 2020) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
18. DOORS OPEN INTO A RARE JAPANESE BATHHOUSE, OR ‘SENTO’, WHICH ALLOWS TATTOOED PATRONS
19. TATTOO ON MAN’S LEG / MAN COVERED IN TATTOOS
20. MEN IN BATH
21. TATTOO ON MAN’S BACK
22. VARIOUS OF MAN POURING WATER FROM BATH ON BACK
23. MEN STANDING UP IN ROW IN BATH
TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE – FEBRUARY 16, 2020) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
24. TATTOOED MAN AT PARTY CELEBRATING JAPANESE TATTOO CULTURE
25. MAN TATTOOED FROM HEAD TO TOE
26. VARIOUS OF TATTOOED PEOPLE GATHERING AT PARTY
27. TATTOOED MEN SHOWING OFF TATTOOS ON BACK
28. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) ORGANISER OF TATTOO PARTY, HIROYUKI NEMOTO, SAYING:
“The occasion is necessary as a result of often we conceal our tattoos from society, however simply yearly we are able to proudly exhibit our tattoos and present one another what new tattoos we have.”
29. HIROKI TAKAMURA SHOWING OFF HIS FULL BODY TATTOO
30. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) FORMER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, NOW AUTHOR, HIROYUKI NEMOTO, SAYING:
“At my previous job, tattoos weren’t allowed so I utilized basis each morning to cowl it. Earlier than, I used to be a faculty administrator.”
31. VARIOUS OF TATTOOED PEOPLE POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND CHANTING DURING PARTY
STORY: Shodai Horiren acquired her first tattoo on a lark whereas on a visit in Australia almost three many years in the past. Now she is tattooed from head to foot, even on her shaven scalp, and is one in every of Japan’s most famed conventional tattoo artists.
“A home might collapse, you could break up with a lover. Youngsters develop up and go away. However a tattoo is a part of your physique and will likely be with you all of your life. That is the enchantment,” mentioned Horiren, 52, at her studio simply north of Tokyo.
Horiren belongs to a proud and rising tribe of Japanese tattoo aficionados who defy deeply-rooted social taboos associating tattoos with crime, turning their pores and skin into vivid palettes of color with elaborate full-body designs, typically from Japanese legends.
Banned from spas, sizzling spring resorts, some seashores and plenty of gyms and swimming pools, they hope the presence of tattooed international athletes ultimately yr’s Rugby World Cup and subsequent yr’s Tokyo Olympic Video games, postponed a yr because of the coronavirus pandemic, will assist sweep away the unfavourable perceptions.
Tattoos have been linked to criminals in Japan from so long as 400 years in the past, most lately in yakuza (felony gangs) members – whose full-body decorations stopped wanting their palms and necks, permitting concealment below common garments.
However the recognition of Western rock music, with more and more tattoo-sporting musicians, started consuming away on the bias. A landmark courtroom resolution final yr that tattoos had been for adornment, not medical procedures, helped make clear their murky authorized standing and will sign a shift in perspective – and lead the trade to manage itself, giving it a mainstream picture.
Referring to them as tattoos moderately than the standard Japanese time period “irezumi,” as is more and more frequent, might also assist by giving them a trendy, trendy veneer.
Tattoo devotees are additionally celebrating being within the open, assembly at massive events to reveal and share their designs.
(Manufacturing: Kim Kyung Hoon, Jack Tarrant)
