Posted May 24, 2012 by Jonelle Patrick1 Comment WTF Japan?

Tattoos I Would Regret

I’m pretty sure if I woke up the next morning with Hottoko tattooed on my leg and neck, I’d swear off drinking whatever inspired me to do such a thing FOR-E-VER.

Being permanently inked with the traditional festival fool is a step up from flaunting characters you think are the Heart Sutra but actually turn out to be the instructions for assembling the artist’s air conditioning unit, but the dude is quite a bit less fetching than floral designs, even ones that enshrine the sentiments, “I want to each other love love” and “You are my important.”

These photos are all from the 10th anniversary edition of the Japanese magazine Tribal Tattoo, and I’d like to add that the artists ought not to be held responsible for the, er, artistic requests of their clients.

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo

A young woman dressed as a Gothic Lolita is found dead in a car with two strangers. But the more Yumi Hata learns about her friend’s death, the more she’s convinced it was murder…*read more*

Jonelle Patrick View All

Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!