Tattoos in Japan

This article covered the disconnect between the stigma toward tattoos in Japan and the current irrelevancy of its historical origins. Within this article and related ones, several sources for Japan's attitude towards people with tattoos are identified, including the tattoo branding of criminals during the Edo period, the voluntary tattoos gotten by members of the yakuza to show their devotion or to separate themselves from normal society, and the ancient Confucian idea that altering the body inherited from one's parents is disrespectful. Clearly, tattoos have historically been associated with some things that Japan doesn't want to encourage in its society. So, the shift towards the acceptance of tattoos in light of the increasing globalization of Japan and its culture has been rough, and it's easy to understand why. Even so, especially in consideration of the upcoming Rugby World Cup and Olympics, Japan's attitude towards tattoos is nonconducive to the acceptance and welcome of many foreigners.

There have been some onsen and ryokan which have been accepting foreigners with tattoos without asking them to cover them up with a skin patch (something which is usually not allowed - this practice was taken up originally in an attempt to keep criminals and yakuza out of these public spaces and perhaps further dissuade someone from joining the yakuza in the first place). In response to the wave of tourism and larger exposure to foreigners who have tattoos for reasons which were clearly not to prove their devotion to the yakuza, some places have gone as far as to post signs outside of their establishments informing Japanese guests that they allow people with tattoos to enter and asking them to be polite to them in spite of their tattoos. Some places, however, are more willing to accept foreign guests with tattoos than they are willing to accept Japanese guests with tattoos. This is a finding that I found interesting, and though I can see how there might be more of a chance that a Japanese person got a tattoo for one of the historically negative reasons than the chance that a foreigner got a tattoo for the same reason, the chance that the tattoos are evidence of an active yakuza member are very slim today. Today's generation of gang members opt out of getting tattoos more often than older generations of yakuza, and an older Japanese person who originally got a tattoo to show their devotion to the yakuza is likely reformed and trying to reintegrate into society (as one of the many who have turned away from the yakuza and are currently struggling to fit themselves back into non-criminal life, like we discussed in this class a few weeks ago).

I feel like there's some work to be done on the stigmatization of people with tattoos in Japan, because people in Japan get them for all sorts of reasons now (different reasons from back then) and there are plenty of foreigners who can't enjoy Japan in its entirety because of their tattoos. However, Japan is not the only country to struggle with the stigmatization of tattoos, as America does too in its own way via people's perceptions of people with tattoos. An article on Psychology Today discussed how people with tattoos in America are more likely to be perceived as having negative personality characteristics, lower levels of inhibition, competence, and sociability, with higher levels of promiscuity. Women with tattoos in America are even more stigmatized, being perceived as (on top of all previously mentioned characteristics) heavy drinkers, less attractive, less caring, less intelligent, and less honest. Also, often in America it is difficult for people with tattoos to find a job (as it also is in Japan).

One potential reason for the resistance in Japan is that it's just plain hard to change the way you think about a certain thing (it's difficult to purge yourself of stereotypes and associations - our brains are hardwired to place recurring ideas and images into categories based on the context in which we encounter them for the sake of faster processing through a phenomenon called implicit bias, and while this doesn't excuse things like prejudice or discrimination, it can account at least somewhat for its prevalence). More exposure to people with tattoos in contexts contradictory to the preexisting stigmas could help with this, so actually the Rugby World Cup and upcoming Olympics in Japan are a good opportunity for this mental shift among the Japanese population to take place.