大麻　極道　前科九犯　

what does that tattoo above say about home...? i only recognize the last kanji.

It says nothing about home. It means a "dreamer".
This is weak writing. No power whatsoever within lines. Also few mistakes from technical point of view. (it is possible that the tattooist messed it up)

Also, writing style should be relevant to the meaning. I would not use kaisho (standard script) for a phrase "dreamer". It's like talking about sex in binary code.

Try this:

夢 dream



or this


夢 dream

That made me crack up! XD

By the way, a friend of mine got herself the following tattoo:



Is that even a real kanji? It almost looks like the kanji for "big brother" (哥) though I have no idea.

elder brother in Chinese (i.e. big brother, also in Japanese)

I will not comment on the kanji but the echo of binary code springs to mind quite vividly. It imitates handwritten 哥, but badly. For instance both horizontal lines are straight where in standard script they should be slightly curved to lighten up the structer and awaken vitality and let the energy flow. This character suggests that her eleder brother was frozen stiff like Hans Solo in star Wars saga. That also goes to vertical lines , they are not supposed to be that rigid in handwriting. Another issue is their consistent thickness, which kills any life left in it.

You guys need to understand that even if someone is a native speaker it doesnt mean that he can write calligraphy. In fact only a small percentage can do it. I often write calliggraphy for Japanese people and I am a foreigner. Ability of writing kanji and calligraphy are like owning a lion and training him not to bite your hear off. It takes a lot of time and patience which are rather in short supply these days.

If I was getting a tattoo on my neck it would be a dragon with my japanese name on the bottom of the dragon's feet on a banner. now that would be neat.

what does it mean ?

i have already explained it, scroll up

The tattoo looks great, but it's so red, and it's on the foot too . . . have to ask, but was that painful to get done? I love the idea of a nice tattoo like that (although not on the foot, personally), but it just looks so painful a process! Just curious, but how long did that take to get done, too?

O: I cant imagine getting a tattoo hurting more than childbirth.

Well, I plan on getting Ai （愛）on my back somewhere. And likely other things in japanese on my body.
My boyfriend's mom is a tattoo artist so i'm likely to get discounted (or as he claims, free) tattoos once I'm 18. :D (because I can't get permission right now at 17 >.<)