Tattoo
 

hi :) I want a tattoo kanji on the neck. one simbol. Ane ideas which looks and the meaning is the best? :):)

This is a regular request here. So you don't care what the kanji says, you just want the kanji?

Tattoos are and should be something personal. Find out what "meaning" means something to YOU and then go from there.

配下

If you don't care then I highly recommend this one: 糞

It's symmetrical and that's cool.... but I wouldn't wear feces on my neck! :D

i suggest the word "RESPECT" .. it'll look cool on your neck...

Here you go:

If you insist on this symbol it is not us you should ask.

Rather you tatoo artist, afterall its that person who will put it on you.

I speak from experiance as I almost have oe myself.

Because tattoo artists that don't speak or read Japanese never make mistakes?

hanzismatter.blogspot.com

Exactley.


It seems I was unluckey !

2 lines have joined so the symbol probabley dosent mean what i was told

Starbird Stock Designs Catalog

The left symbol is my own mark....

We can all be stupid when were young but can i ask even with a little tattoo like this is there still consequences?

within Japan?

yes. since people with tattoos on necks all are.

IMO, these tattoos like "respect, dream, love" are the dumbest things one can ink on their body, specially if westerner does it in kanji.

if you want to be very unoriginal then simply get a tattoo of your sign - scorpion, cancer etc...

Actually I have a better suggestion now for a great tattoo.

糞＝＞口

This is sure to show everyone how cool you are with your new hip "asian" tattoo.

Tattoos generally say "i am insecure", "I suffer from a lack of emotional/mental intelligence", and/or "I come from a poor social background". These connotations are even stronger in Japan. Fortunately, many people who get tattoos one day wise-up, which is why laser tattoo removal is currently such a big business. People should be able to respect you for who and what you are, rather than the markings you put on your body. If tattoos are required to "fit-in", then you are hanging with the wrong crowd.

That link shows a kanji that is not Japanese. There are lines missing on the second character.

勇気

There are always consequences.

Tattoos are more or less permanent. And, that's why mixing them with a faddish design that you mistakenly confuse as 'classic' ends up something you regret.

Nothing is more pathetic than spotting a 'tramp stamp' on an aging 40-something woman.

Riiiiight, that's not over-generalizing and judgmental AT ALL. Tell us more, oh righteous one.

While some tattooing is done for fad (especially these days), a lot are also done for meaningful, artistic and spiritual purposes.

You have made so many high-horse blanketed generalizations in that one paragraph, I don't even know where to begin to reply. Nor do I think I even want to have a conversation with someone as ignorant as you sound.

Yeah. I equate tattoos with body art, or something.. not all that other crap. I mean personally I would never get one, but to say that anybody with a tattoo falls into one of those categories, is a bit ignorant and short-sighted.

You are correct it is not Japanese Kanji tho since the "drawing" of each is similar (especially in regards to the western alphabet) I believed the point would still be valid.

Said point being that if somone is going to mark you with such a symbol and they dont speak/read/write that language be wary.

i have a tatoo in my face:p another firefly in my back and a tatoo written of my favorite video game*Resident Evil*

you should make a tatoo of a *Koi* on your neck^^

I strongly disagree. Yes, tattoos are looked down on in Japan. But what you've said above is only your own opinion and while some people will agree with you, it's only because not all people like the idea of tattoos. I am not insecure or any of what you said and I have a tattoo on my wrist that symbolizes my childhood and future. Just because you have a tattoo doesn't mean you should one day "wise-up" because it's not a reason you'd need to. My tattoo means something to me, even though I got it quite some time ago, and it always will. There's people who think what you have said about piercings (even just the ears like many girls get) but if someone said it to you would you agree?

I don't think we should push our own views onto someone else to make them feel bad. If OP wants a tattoo, that does not make them a bad person and I say go for it! I do however advise to only get one once you have thought of one that actually means something to you so you won't regret it. Don't get a tattoo for the sake of having a tattoo. Now THAT is stupid.

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 >.<)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is mine, but I want to check if it really means what I think it means. As long as it doesn't say 'Tampon' it's fine by me :3

it means eternity. it looks like kid's drawing though.

Haha ok thanks :) Ah well I like it that way :o

永　means "eternity", "a long time", and I think it was written fairly well. Much better than kids' drawing. :)

I have a question about a tattoo, but it's unrelated to the OP. I just didn't want to make a new thread.

So as far as right now goes, I have zero tattoos. I'd never really wanted that one THAT badly, and especially when I toyed around with the idea of going to Japan, I kind of actually used some of that as a justification for not getting one. Everyone knows about the stigma of having tattoos in Japan (although I've never seen the same answer twice), but every time I've seen an inquiry about tattoos in Japan,it's always after the OP already has a tattoo and is concerned about how it will affect them in Japan.

My case is a bit different though, since I don't actually have a tattoo yet. The reason why I brought the topic up now, however, is because I've been considering getting one while I'm on vacation in the US. The tattoo concept itself is a tribute piece to one of my best friends who had an untimely death last year, and the design itself pulls inspiration from one of his own tattoos (This is really just saying that it's not something stupid like a kanji).

But I'm afraid that people may not care about what the tattoo represents but instead simply that it's a tattoo. It's popular in western culture to get things like tattoos, but I'm afraid Japanese society may not be so accommodating to my cultural choice.

So if you don't have a tattoo now, would you consider getting one anyway even if you were planning on living in Japan? If you already do have one and are in Japan, do you regret having it and would have refrained from getting it if you knew you were going to be living in Japan?

My point of view, I imagine, wouldn't differ much from yours since we're in similar situations. But here it goes anyways,

Tattoos on foreigners are perceived very differently by the vast majority of the population than tattoos on Japanese people, and even these days tattoos on Japanese people, if clearly artistic, are perceived as acceptable by a growing, yet small, part of society.

I don't have a tattoo either, but honestly when students ask me if I have one, and I say no, I swear I catch some disappointment in their eyes!
I think part of meeting a foreigner in Japan is seeing something different, and the more different the more of an experience it is.

It does set you apart though, and if fully integrating into society is your goal, it's the wrong direction.
But if being unique and standing out is part of your role that you capitalize on, it might help your cause. :)

Regarding public baths and onsen, how often do you really go?
And these days more of these places turn a blind eye to the "fashion" tattoo compared to the yakuza tattoo.

I have a tattoo, in kanji, that actually make no sense to those who do not understand its meaning. It's my pen name, 龍涙, and it is based on a calligraphy work. If anyone asks me why the hell the dragon's tears, I tell them (if i am in a cheeky mood) that even the biggest dragons cry (I am 6.4 and athletic), and that i am a very sensitive alien form. :D To which they reply, あ,そうなんですか？ And then I do a surprising roar attack from Shrek or Jaws.

1. More and more Japanese have tattoo's so it is not as shocking as it was in Edo period.
2. As James said, we are foreigners, so we are "expected" to have one (I would not expect anything less to be expected of)
3. You can go into public baths, very few won't let you in, and if they don't you call the manager and ask him if he wants you to make a call to Kabukichou.
4. I do not really care if someone likes it or not, it's my tattoo, and I love it (so does my teacher , who is 73, and other 60 years old comrades of the brush, to my great surprise). I did not make it for others to like or understand. Oh yeah, and I live here since 2001.

Thanks for your replies. I asked the same question on Facebook to my friends, and I got like 3 types of responses.
1- "Do it pussy!" : From a couple of military friends
2- "I'm not sure" : From several foreign friends
3- "If a Japanese friend was going to get one, I would maybe tell them no and try to stop them" : From a Japanese girl

Another Japanese girl also said that her work checks for tattoos, although since she's gone through the screening process she might get one anyway. It was just that mainly my western friends were encouraging me, and my Japanese friends were kind of telling me no. Actually, they weren't telling me no outright, simply a kind of "It's okay, you're a foreigner" answer. And I can't stand that. So now I'm really not sure, and it's kind of conflicting because the tattoo itself has so much meaning but I guess that won't transcend the fact that it's still a tattoo in Japan.

They undress them and check for tattoos? That could be easily reported to labour office as a harassment. That is just ridiculous and so discriminatory, not to mention narrow-minded.

Anyway, if this is not a tattoo on your forhead it should not be a problem. There are many weird things in Japan. Example: all family enters the bath tub together, with father and daughters at the age of 12 or later, but when my wife was tanning topless on the beach, 15 guys banged the lamp post and 7 of them forgot to breathe or didnt know if they should look or not. Man i wish i had recorded this. They run naked in public baths, and read magazines with naked chicks in them in convinience stores, and yet they cover private parts with pixels on porn movies. They dislike foreigners (not all of them, i know) and can be xenophobic, and yet they wear western fashon, drive foreign cars and love Italian pasta, not to mention that Japanese has nearly 30 000 words in kana, taken from English language. The list goes on. If i was to pay attention to all that mess, i would not be able to live here. So, either you bring your own rules or you will get chewed. You know, your military friends may be right (though their reasoning for saying "do it you pussy" is slightly different from mine) to tell you to go ahead and do whatever you like. Unless you plan to work as a model or the tattoo you are planning to have is really controversial (like the T-shirts in the early years of 2000 n Japan, sold for kids, with the sig "Fist Fuck me". Shirts were pink. )

If you really want to ruin the rest of your life, then get a tatoo of some anime freak that you will regret having injected with ink into your skin when youre a grandparent.