[Fksxneng]

I have no business whatsoever advising anyone whether or not they should get a tattoo, frankly as far as I know neither does anyone else on here...

Having said that, I once had a discussion with one of my Japanese sensei about tattoos. In fact, it was within the first few hours of meeting me he challenged me with "do you have any tattoos?!", I said "no" and his response was "good! In Kendo you have to have a clean body AND spirit, I have never seen a 8th dan sensei with tattoos". He is a police man and he did tell me that he thinks "Tattoos are for criminals" but that was just his opinion. It would be foolish to assume ALL Japanese people hold the same opinion, especially these days as I believe tattoos are becoming more popular amongst Japanese youngsters...

As for Yakuza, I could be as tattooed as I like, but as I am a big hairy ginger gaikokujin the chances of me being mistaken for Yakuza are probably pretty slim, certainly less than being mistaken for an anime geek... though having said that I don't know anything about the Yakuza (thankfully) so I wouldn't really know.

Personally if it were me, I wouldn't bother with the tattoo, because I agree with the words of my sensei. I can see you point about wanting your art displayed 'on you' but I'd get it put onto a cool T-shirt or something...but again that's just me...