Name: Tattoos in Japan - What You Should Know
Uploaded: 2020-08-21T19:10:57.000Z
Duration: 10 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

ca*singing tl;dr intro song* pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa...

[Simon] Old school viewers will know what this pig stool is about.

[Martina] I'm quite tiny. Not really, I'm 5'7" and a half but Simon is very large.

[Simon] And I'm actually doing the splits as well right now in order for Martina to fit

[Martina] So it is the return of the pig stool. [Simon] Hey!

[Martina] This pig stool took us a long time to find, you know? It was the correct height for both of us.

[Simon] So I just finished getting my tattoo done here in Japan and we figured, since we both have tattoos

and we both live in Japan, we could talk a little bit about what it's like to have tattoos in Japan.

[Martina] To begin with, I know a lot of people seem to think that Japanese people are terrified of tattoos

It seems like everyone we see online – “I have tattoos and I'm worried about coming to Tokyo. Are people gonna run from me?”

[Simon] "I have a little butterfly on my wrist and I worry that somebody's gonna see it and they're gonna be really really scared,

and I'm not gonna be able to go anywhere and they won't even let me off the airplane."

[Martina] Ok so, that is a total false – I was gonna say “it's a false lie!” but doesn't that already mean false?

[Simon] This is actually perpetrated in music as well. [Martina] Oh yeah, that Frank-

[Simon] Frank Ocean, I love you to pieces. 'Blonde' is one of my favorite albums of all time,

but in 'Chanel' you said “Hide my tattoos in Shibuya. Police think I'm of the underworld”.

Frankie –we're on first name terms now-, the police don't think you're of the underworld.

You're in Shibuya! You're in the tourist central!  [Martina] It's like being in New York's Times Square.

[Simon] Nobody thinks that you're part of the underworld!

[Martina] Let's just dispel this mist immediately, ok? *silence* Well… I said “mist”, didn't I?

[Simon] You said “mist”. Dispel the mist! [Martina] Dispel this myth.

There's Japanese people that live in Japan, they look Japanese, they talk Japanese.

When you show up in Japan and you don't look like a Japanese person, they immediately think to themselves “You're not part of the underworld”.

[Martina] It doesn't matter if you're black and you speak Japanese, if you're white and you speak Japanese,

or even if you're East Asian but you don't look Japanese, they're gonna say “You guys are foreigners”.

[Simon] People don't think that we're part of the yakuza, they don't think we're part of the underworld.

I'm not part of the Ducky Squad, you're not part of the Cupcake Crew. ([Martina] The Puppy Crew!)

[Simon] Alright? So don't be worried about people thinking that you're a bad person for having tattoos.

[Martina] In our neighborhood we have a lot of old people…  [Simon] Yeap.

[Martina] And when they saw my tattoos, a lot of people were intrigued. They wanted to touch it or talk about it

[Simon] Older people! Not just people in their 30's and 40's, but people in their 70's, 80's… 170's…

People live to a really ripe old age here.

[Martina] Yes. But, for real, they're very interested. Somebody asked me once “oh, is this paint?” and they literally reached out and touched my arm,

and I remember a couple of times we went to izakayas, and there was a guy working there who clearly looked like HE was part of a gang...

He was Japanese and he had his sleeves covered up to here, but we could see his tattoos dripping underneath a little bit

and he was really stern faced. The two of us were kinda like “We're new to Japan, where did we wander?”.

Actually, for those who listen to our podcast, it was on the dark side of Kichijoji.

[Simon] Yes. *laughs* LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST! [Martina] *whispers* Listen to our podcast!

When I took off my sweater this guy comes over, and then he went “Kawaiiiiii!!!”.

Literally broke into almost a Honey Senpai voice and then he asked to see it.

And I had to pull up my sleeve further, and he was like “oh my god, this is so cute!”

So it doesn't even matter that he's got representation of his own tattoos that mean something to him. He wasn't offended that I had tattoos.

[Simon] So people visiting Japan, stop sh****ng your pants about this. You're not gonna have a rough time.

There are some things you might be limited from experiencing because of some archaic tattoo laws that a lot of people don't necessarily agree with.

[Martina] There are a lot of problems with going to onsens, which is the hot springs. A lot of them have that sign up that says “NO TATTOOS”.

You can get around it in some ways if you have a small tattoo and you can put a bandage on it or a waterproof sticker bandage.

But just to be honest with you guys, if you have a teeny tiny tattoo – some people are like “I have a small tattoo on my lower back”.

You're getting into an area with a towel on, you're taking this towel off, rinsing off and getting into hot water.

It's not like people are going -tah!- and zeroing in on your butt cheeks and then rushing off to the authorities at the front desk.

[Simon] There are some onsens, like the one we did a video about, that's totally okay with people having tattoos.

[Martina] There's Dogo Onsen, which is one of the most famous onsens,

apparently that's where Studio Ghibli had its inspiration for Spirited Away,

and in that place tattoos have always been fine, they've never placed a ban on it.

[Simon] And there are some onsens that kind of operate in the gray area,

for places that I haven't actually taken you yet, but I've been planning some secret places.

[Martina] *gasp* Is it for my birthday? Is it 'cause it's gonna be my birthday? Are you making plans for my birthday?

[Simon] AND… what they said is that they don't overtly say that they're ok with tattoos but they say they're ok with tattoos.

But it's always nice for you to call and make sure you check if they're ok with it beforehand.

[Martina] If you're living in Japan, one of the bigger problems can be getting a gym membership.

[Simon] Here in Kichijoji there are a few major gym chains that I tried to apply for membership,

and I was completely covered up, nobody saw anything, and on the form they said “do you have any tattoos?”,

and Martina said “you should just lie about it,” but I'm an honest person and I hate lying in every situation.

[Martina] Chotto matte kudasai (Wait a moment). Let me explain why.

Because Simon works out in long sleeve shirts and he wasn't planning on showering there,

I said if you're covering up your tattoos, which P.S., I looked up online-

many foreigners living in Japan lie about their tattoos and never show it.

But some people said they covered up their tattoos and then in the change room when they took their shirt off they were reported because they had tattoos.

[Simon] And there are people like me that operate with a moral compass and don't wanna lie under any circumstances,

[Martina] Ok... [Simon] so I couldn't get a gym membership here.

There are supposedly other gyms- I hear that Gold's Gym, from what people have told me, is ok with tattoos.

[Martina] in more of the foreign neighborhoods. [Simon] Yeah, that's a little bit too far from where we are

so I just built a gym in my backyard and I had my little rinky dink squat rack, rusted…

[Simon] Working out in the rain is sad. Let me tell you, it's sad.

[Martina] I go to the community center which is- every city and every local area will have...

[Simon] A rec center. [Martina] Like a rec center.

I was told that I REALLY have to cover up all my tattoos because it's considered to be an area for children and for old people.

They are gonna be a lot more uncomfortable and nervous if they see these tattoos,

so when I went to the gym I made sure that I wore hoodies, zipped up. AND IT WAS AWFUL!

[Simon] If you sweat more, you burn more calories, I guess…? It's good for you

[Martina] No, I was so sweaty, and I remember doing one of the weight things

and my sleeve went up and I was so terrified that somebody would notice.

[Simon] Actually, the music stopped, there was a record player scratch, and everyone was like *GASP* “Yakuza!”

[Martina] There was actually no music. [Simon] That didn't happen. Nobody did that.

[Martina] No. But I do go swimming, -That's a lie, I went once.- at my local rec center.

I plan to go more, ok? [Simon] You should go more, girl.

[Martina] I have to wear a- like a skinsuit. [Simon] a body condom.

[Martina] A body condom, that's the correct term. *joking*

It's a long sleeved one that goes from here to here. Zips up to my neck,

and I have to wear that when I go swimming, but you also have to wear a shower cap, that little- not a shower cap.. *laughs*

[Martina] Asia loves their swim caps. Korea, obsessed with swim caps, Japan…

[Simon] I have more hair on my chest than on my head, am I gonna wear a swim cap on my chest?

[Martina] The last time we went to Korea we stayed at a hotel and Simon got into the pool without a swim cap on.

–'Cause he's bald!- And they were like “you have to wear a swim cap”,

and I'm like, *points at bald head* “but… it doesn't… make sense”.

[Simon] Where is the logic in this right here?