Japan moves to ban tattoos
TATTOOS are being frowned upon Japan, where 38,000 municipal workers in Osaka are being ordered on pain of dismissal to describe their tattoos to officials. You see, the yakuza gangsters love ink. So, if you’ve got a big tattoo, you might be a villain. That’s the thinking that goes on inside the head of Toru Hashimoto, the Mayor of Osaka.
Tattoos were once more the preserve of the armed forces and criminals. But now they are commonplace. “MUM” has been replaced by “WAITROSE”, and the nubile Pacific Island beauty is now augmented by the words “TARGET WEIGHT”.
The documents sent to all of Hashimoto’s staff feature diagrams of the human body on which workers must draw their tattoos. This includes revealing any tattoos you might have on your face. No lying, now. Own up. Do you have a tattoo on your face? Well?!
As Mr Hashimoto writes:
“For a city employees, irezumi are not just inappropriate. Even if you try to conceal them from others, if irezumi are exposed to the eyes of citizens during working hours, those citizens will have the feeling of uneasiness and coercive pressure which will damage trust in the city.”
Does a tattoo make you feel pressured, especially one worn by a teacher or refuse collector? Maybe civil servants are viewed in Japan in much the way we in the West view celebs? One thinks of celebrity ink. If Cheryl Cole’s “Mrs Cole” tattoo on the back of her neck was coercive it would have been augmented with a felt tip to read “DO NOT BE LIKE Mrs Cole whose Mr Cole spent our marriage nuts-deep in hairdresser and PA”. Amanda Seyfried has the word “minge” tattooed on her foot. Did anyone feel afraid by that? Miley Cyrus has “Just breathe” written on her ribcage. Does she think her lungs can read? What’s next for Miley, “just beat” by her right boob and “just taste non her tongue”? Does she make you feel uneasy or just happy that out there is a woman so controlling she feels a need to tell her body parts what to do? Madonna’s former lover Jesus Luz has his own name on his neck. The only things that previously carried their own name were pets and Adolf Hitler’s look-alike, whose ink famously ran, “My name is Gary Shawcross and I know I look like Adolf Hitler”.
Eiji Miki, of the personnel section at Osaka City Hall, adds:
“In the past, we have had other complaints about tattoos. For example, a city rubbish collector was wearing half sleeves and his irezumi were obvious, and people felt intimidated.”
Half sleeves, we take it, are not a tattoo that only goes half way down the arm, rather a tattoo revealed by a short-sleeved top.
Putting the tin lid on this madness is news that Mr Hashimoto’s dad was a tattooed yakuza. And look how his boy turned out.
Meanwhile, over in the UK, Ian Pointon, chairman of the Police Federation in Kent said in 2011 that the Boys and Girls in Blue should uses their tattoos as an “ice-breaker”. He said:
“They can actually be a good way to start a line of communication with the public. It can be a bit of an ice-breaker . . . the days of tattoos being stigmatised should be over.”
Bending over and showing the woman whose had her dog run over a butterfly on your arse will win his trust. Although the severed human head dripping blood onto a likeness of Mohammed (as famously sported by loveable TV copper Bergerac on his back) may unnerve.
Better for Hashimoto and Pointon to find a middle way, perhaps with a list of approve tattoos sporting slogans such as “Vote Hashimoto”, “Police are People Too” all on the “OFFICIAL TATTOO ZONE” formerly known as The Beckhams…
Tattoos – Of Sex
Tattoos Of Marijuana
Tattoos – Retro Ones
Maria Hose Cristerna Is Unusual
Tattoos – Utterly Disgusting And Depraved Ones
Ugly tattoos – in photos
Tattoos – Extreme Ones (NSFW)
The Most Disgusting Tattoos (NSFW)
Tattoos – The Tramp Stamp
Ugly tattoos – in photos
Tattoos – On Your Tongue
Tattoos – The Bottom Of The Pile
Tattoos – Weird And Stupid Ones
Tattoos – Creepy Ones of Children
Tattoos – Utterly Disgusting And Depraved Ones
Justin Bieber’s tattoos in photos (with added Jesus)
Posted: 7th, May 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (6) | TrackBack | Permalink
