Tattoos

I read in a book that Tattoos are frownd upon in Japan and that only criminals have Tattoos well that obviously isnt true becouse a lot of musicions have tattoos

I also read that men have to cover tattoos when in public baths

Is all this true or should i i finnally through away my Japanese book and buy a new one?

And what is the modern tolorence and thoughts on tattoos in Japan please?

I don't know how they are currently viewed in Japan, but there is a site dedicated to nonsense and misused Chinese and Kanji characters: Situs Agen Judi Bola Dan Casino Online Indonesia - BURSA303

I saw a tv program the other night (sorry I can't remeber the name of it) and it was all about the tradition of tattooing in Japan. I only watched a few minutes of it but what they were showing was a special full body colorfull tattoo. It took over 80 hours of needle time and it cost a fortune. They gave it a name but I can't recall it....maybe someone of jref saw it too?

I have seen some photos of non-Japanese people with tatoos and noticed a difference between Japanese ones and theirs. They usually have one or two small ones on the upper arms, or on the chest, or on the thighs just as a fashion as far as I have seen. (Well, I saw one of the forum members proudly saying her father has got 80 or more, so I might be wrong.)

On the other hand, Japanese yakuza, who are already criminals or at least would-be criminals, usually have large ones all over the back to the shoulders and upper arms and sometimes more like this photo I linked below.

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200605/31/64/b0036864_1591336.jpg

A guy who was in the same class as mine at junior high school has got one all over his back when he just joined a small branch of Yamaguchi-gumi at the age of 17 in Tsushima City, Aichi.

The following story is what he told me recently:
When they found him, a bad boy (a rogue?) who was a school dropout and without a job, (actually he was a member of bousouzoku then ) they blandished him into the yakuza branch and got him a large tatoo which was very expensive by lending him the money. He said he was very honored and proud of it back then and was always showing it off to his friends. Soon he got sick of the life there and escaped, then some of them came to his mother's house and thretened her to give him back to them or she must pay back the money they had lent him for the tatoo. So, seems like the large yakuza tatoo is not only used to scare people but also used to chain the members. (Well, if you had such a big tatoo all over your body, it would be very difficult to get back in to a normal social life even though you have already paid back the cost... )

However, in recent years, I see some young people (male and female) who are obviously non-yakuza have small ones just like non-Japanese has as a fashion. I suspect most of them are fake (stickers) but maybe some are real.

And .. to answer miki-chan's questions:
Yes, normal people frown upon the large traditional Yakuza tatoos but not on the small fashionable ones.ﾂ (Maybe elderly people still frown upon the small ones too.) And lots of public baths have signs saying "No Tatoo Allowed Here" or something like that, referring to the yakuza ones.

Oh, what has become of my classmate? Well, he ended up working at a Takoyaki Yatai without getting much paid, still at the bottom of the yakuza social pyramid.

I have seen a few tattoos here and there, but they certainly aren't as prevalent as they are elsewhere. It's incorrect to assume that anyone with a tattoo is a criminal, but there is a certain social stigma about tattoos here. There are many onsen that will ask customers to cover up their ink, or even turn them away for it. Traditional tatts, like Kyoko described, are called Horimono, and are usually the mark of a member of the Yakuza. Of course, this stigma doesn't prevent foreigners from seeking to get their own backpieces in the traditional Japanese manner (we had one in here earlier looking for information for such an endeavor), but I personally don't know any Japanese people that have tattoos, or will admit to having any. In fact, I've never even heard a Japanese acquaintence say that they wanted a tattoo, or thought they were cool.

Kyoko san already gave a good explanation, so I'm posting just some addition to it.
In Japan Japanese traditional tattoo is called "irezumi" and western one is called "tattoo" (using English word).

Irezumi has a long history. Though during Edo era some of the common people had "irezumi", due to the fact that criminals also got "irezumi" for identification and today mostly it is yakuza who has "irezumi", it is something frowned upon. Because having "irezumi" usually means the person is yakuza, many public baths and especially onsen (hot spring) do not allow people with "irezumi" - most probably they cannot say "no yakuza" (no one want to get into trouble by offending yakuza ).

But these days western type of tattoo is getting fashionable, especially among the young people. The design and size are different from "irezumi" so it is regarded as something different from "yakuza", people do not think the person is yakuza just because he/she has tattoo.

Whether a Japanese person view a tattoo is something nice or cool, or frowns upon it depends on the person and his/her sense of value.

There are a lot of Japanese tourists that come to where I live and in the summer, I notice a great many arms and shoulders with tattoos on them. Men and women. I know several younger people with tattoos, one of them on his hand, and they are all perfectly normal looking people with normal jobs. So I do think that tattoos are becoming more and more popular here.

I've twice been in the onsen and seen someone with a traditional full back tattoos. There is of course a sign saying 'no tattoos', as there are just about everywhere, but who would dare say anything. I too have large tattoos and have always ignored the sign whenever I visited a hot bath. No one has ever said anything. Er...The pool generally empties fairly quickly I may add however.

What does a irezumi look like how is it diffrent from a tattoo ?

And what is yakuza ? i think i read that in a manga somewhere ?

a google image search for "irezumi" will quickly answer your first question.

As for your second question, yakuza is synonymous with the Japanese mafia. Again, a simple search will provide endless resources on this subject.