at least all my pinkies are intact...

March 6, 2008 9:29 PM

What should I expect as a heavily tattooed person traveling for a month in Japan?

I´ll be in Japan for a month, starting in a couple days. Traveling all around. I have a lot of tattos. None of them are on my hands or above my collar. In short sleeves or shorts, they are very visible. Fortunately it will be early spring when I'm there, so I'll be in long sleeves and pants most of the time, but what level of discrimination can I expect? I've heard 3rd hand stories of friends-of-friends not being allowed into certain stores or restaurants. Will I get turned away from clubs? What about Onsen? I'm used to having people stare at me/approach me from going to the beach in South America, but I feel like Japan might be a little more... intense. I'm about as gringo as you can get, blond hair and all that, so there's no mistaking me for Yakuza. Whats the best way to deal with it if people are offended or try to discriminate against me? Ignore it, let it slide and move on?

posted by youthenrage to travel & transportation around Japan (10 answers total)

i am a small asian american girl with very large, visible tats on my lower forearms. i was in japan last april. it was quite cool most of the time so i was in long- or 3/4 sleeves most of the time. on the warmer days when i was in short sleeves or had my sleeves pushed up, the most i got was a lot of stares. i was never barred from entrance anywhere or felt that anyone was offended by my tattoos.
posted by violetk at 9:39 PM on March 6, 2008

Sleeves are a good idea if you don't like being stared at, but the only place I think it would be a real issue is at onsens. Many onsens have no-tattoo policies, but even some of the no-tattoo policy onsens don't enforce the rule- so if you don't mind the stares, just go and hope you don't get kicked out (I was at a no-tattoo onsen last week and there was an old yakuza type guy with a whole sleeve tattoo - people just pretended to ignore him).
posted by p3t3 at 9:55 PM on March 6, 2008

I'd say you won't have a lot of trouble in Tokyo or any other big city, in the countryside it might be different.
As said previously the no-tatoo policy varies depending on the places. There are onsens that are pretty adamant about it other that don't really care. You should expect to be denied entry in swimming pools, sports club and capsule inn as well.
You're not going to have any trouble at clubs and bars, unless you're planning on going to the fuzoku, japanese brothels, where the gaijiness will be a more problematic matter than your tattoos.
Unless you can speak japanese very well you should move on when someone denies you access to so and so because of your tats.
It might seems absurd to you but it's a battle you cannot win and you're there only for a month, it's not worth the trouble.
posted by SageLeVoid at 10:07 PM on March 6, 2008

No one will claim they are denying you entrance anywhere because of your tats, by the way. They'll tell you that the bar is "for Japanese only" or "full" or somesuch, in order to.... save you from embarrassment, in their view. It's a kindness.

And as others said, Japan is a big and diverse place, much like the USA or England. In the middle of the urban sprawl, you'll be not only welcome, but fascinating. It should be an asset, even, in nightclubs and general night-life, where looking like a western rock star / artist is a very 'cool' thing. But in the rural or more formal/traditional/old places, not so welcome.

So it will be fluid, and you should definitely be adaptable, as if you're in San Francisco, but sometimes Kansas. Going out with your girlfriend... or with your girlfriend's grandparents.
posted by rokusan at 11:24 PM on March 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Whats the best way to deal with it if people are offended or try to discriminate against me? Ignore it, let it slide and move on?

As a Japanese person in Japan without tattoos, generally speaking all the advice here is good. You may receive some discrimination- that can't be helped really as tattoos are so tightly tied with the 'alternate economy' here in Japan. It's still pretty chilly here although spring is around the corner so if you're in long sleeves and pants, you'll be fine. If you do plan to go to an onsen, you need to get someone Japanese to ask in advance if it is ok for you to go with tattoos. That person should explain that you're obviously not yakuza. Many places will decline you on policy, sadly.

On preview, SageLeVoid's advice is best.
posted by gen at 2:28 AM on March 7, 2008

I've got no tattoos, but I'm blonde, blue-eyed and western as they come... and I got stared at and was (friendly) denied entry to a couple of places, when I was in Japan. So if it happens, it might not just be because of the tattoos.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:38 AM on March 7, 2008

I would agree that in some places it will definitely be more "Ohh, white guy" than "Ohh, tattoos." Where seeing a white guy is unusual, you will be stared at for existing, without mention of anything extra.

I spent time in rural Japan, and although I actually didn't feel particularly stared at most of the time, there were definitely occasions of "Ooo, white girl with pretty hair you're so white (pale) can I touch your hair?" Mostly involving elementary school kids, because they were the most forward.

If you go to any national sites on a school field-trip day you may get harassed to answer questions like I was in Nara. It seems that they were required to ask a foreigner questions--I guess because they expected to be able to find them there. But maybe I was approached because I was a younger girl alone, and so not terribly intimidating.
posted by that girl at 5:31 AM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Assuming you've obviously gaijin, your tattoos probably won't be much of an issue. I've got a single piece on a shoulder that's partially visible if I'm wearing short sleeves. I was in Japan in Sept. 2006 and it wasn't ever an issue.

The only place it could have been, an onsen in rural Kyushu, didn't say a thing. Maybe folks were staring at the tat, but I assuming they were just staring at the big white guy. If anyone is acting weird, as others have said, it will almost certainly be some kind of non-tat excuse. Just smile and move on, there way too much awesome in Japan to bother with those very rare situations.
posted by Nelsormensch at 7:27 AM on March 7, 2008

Nobody will care.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:59 PM on March 7, 2008

Well, I have a (small, barely noticeable) tatoo on my right wrist. Some of the hotels I stayed at had explicit notes that the swimming pools and saunas and health clubs were barred to persons with tattoos. I did not attempt to challenge or clarify that message - there's just too many other things to do there.

Have fun!
posted by Arthur Dent at 9:27 PM on March 7, 2008