Tattoos and Asians; the stigma

The picture above was taken for a documentary about the stigma of tattoos in Asian culture. The documentary stirred up some shower thoughts about the topic. This post is not to rant or to protest, but are just some of my thoughts on this topic. Forgive my english, I still need to work on improving and writing posts help. Feel free to share any of your thoughts and opinions!

Being born and raised in Asia, I’ve been taught since I was kid that tattoos = bad guy. Moreover, I’ve also heard that western tattoos are associated with gangs and symbolic tear shaped tattoos for each kill. For the most part, many Asian cultures relate tattoos with gang activity. For example in Japan, tattoos were used to mark criminals to differentiate them from the populations. Later, the criminals decided to take this “black” mark as their own and form gangs and develop camaraderie. Hence, tattoos in Japan are still considered an unspoken taboo. You will not be allowed to use most public hot springs if you have even the smallest tattoo. What about the other parts of Asia? Most parts share similar backstory; tattoos are related to allegiance to criminal gangs.

[Image via http://www.vgtime.com/topic/5280.jhtml]

Seemingly it is the older generations, who have been through that era of seeing tattoos together violent crime activity, that still hold this deep resentment towards ink. The younger generations who came after society became a little more stable did not have to go through this and thus do not feel the same about tattoos. They view tattoos as a form of art and fashion, much to the dismay of their parents. Personally, I can understand why the older generations resent the ink. I’ve had more than a few talks from relatives about “think about my future” and “what if your girlfriend’s parents reject you for this?”. I can empathise with my elders who have seen the violence that came with these tattoos, and I understand their feelings of concern for the our welling. The thing is, I do not see myself happy in any job that have me hide my tattoos. As cliche as it is, my tattoos all have meaning to me and I wear them with pride.

In the end, I guess we all are going to have to decide for ourselves what kind of lives we choose to live and take personal responsibility for our own actions. Some people may choose to get tattoos for meaning, others just do it for the looks. Who’s to judge? I’m not trying to tell anyone reading this to yolo, go out and get inked. Tattoos will last forever. Forever. Let that sink in before you decide to get one.

Peace out my Chiggas! Thanks for reading x