Greetings from Yokohama!

[tattooedj]

Good evening,

I'm a Brit who's been living in Japan for 10+ years. At the moment, I'm in Yokohama - home of Horiyoshi III's tattoo museum, Yellow Blaze and the Victorian-era district where a lot of the J-tattooers relocated after the government banned ink (again) during the 19th century.

It's great to be surrounded by all of this J-tattoo history - and it's hard not to love tattoos after living here for a while.

I've been reading LST for the past few weeks. It's a great place you've got going here and I finally registered today.

Yoroshiku!

TJ

[Gregor]

Hey @tattooedj , welcome ! Do you have any tattoos ?

[BtcArt]

You are definitely surrounded by great art, congratulations. I hope you can work from any of them sometime. Welcome.

[cltattooing]

Yokoso!! Can we see some of the tattoos you have or hear about some of your tattoo experiences in/around Yokohama? I am super jealous, Japan is definitely a pilgrimage I need to make within my lifetime.

[Iwar]

Welcome! Nice intro. What made you decide to move to Japan?

[tattooedj]

Thanks for making a newcomer here feel so welcome.

What I'm really interested in is the irony that most of the world sees J-tattoos as works of art but here they are still looked down upon.

I've been getting tattooed off-and-on since I was in my mid-teens but in the summer I decided to book in with Tomo at YB for some larger work.

It's been a wait but the first session is coming close - which is one reason I've been reading this forum on tips on surviving longer sessions.

[TaeTae]

Tomo's work is really striking if you like that style, then cool, but do you ever see yourself getting some real traditional Japanese work done? You have a great opportunity to do so living in Japan, would be so awesome if you could get some work done by a tebori master.

[Graeme]

@tattooedj Welcome to LST and please keep us updated with how it goes! Poster @RoryQ has been getting tattooed by Tomo and the pictures he's posted on his progress are pretty spectacular.

[RoryQ]

Yep, I'm starting to know my way around Yokohama. Some nice bars, friendly locals... feels easier to get your head around compared to Tokyo.

[cltattooing]

Also, I have heard some pretty scary/funny stories from tattooer friends who have visited Yokohama about getting drugged and mugged by Yakuza, hahaha. I take it that doesn't happen so much if you speak the language?

[tattooedj]

Yokohama is a trip and a half. Bill Burroughs used to rave about its underground scene in the '50s - plus there's a great Kurosawa movie set in its seemy underbelly. A lot of it has become gentrified in the past few years but there's still enough to keep you in trouble.

@RoryQ - the next time you make it out this way, drop me a line and we'll go out for a drink...