taaarro

I've often wondered the same thing. My guess, as others have suggested above , is that it's just a matter of giving your tattoo artist freedom and maybe specifically asking for something different. For my ROA back piece, I requested that it not be a simple old-timey one, but didn't ask specifically for UFOs or any of the other craziness I happily ended up with.

I found it hard to get passed the poor writing style and journalism... "Kicking it off was the Mayor of Osaka, the son of a yakuza boss, who as most yakuza are, was probably heavily tattooed"??? My experience has been that almost all "public baths" allow tattooed people since they are "public." There are still many apartments here without baths/showers and the people who live in them depend on public baths. It's inconvenient, but not discriminatory, in my opinion, for a gym or spa to refuse admittance since they are privately run businesses. A public gym, such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym, allows people with tattoos to use its facilities. I definitely hide my tattoos from my Japanese family, landlords, clients, etc. On one hand, I've seen a surprising number of young people with neck tattoos here. On the other, I've noticed bar owners look uncomfortable when I took off my sweatshirt (and I'm nowhere near covered and I don't have Japanese-style tattoos). I think the stigma, however, also makes it more fun to have tattoos. I sometimes wonder if I would be as into tattoos if I still lived in Brooklyn, where more youngish people seem to be tattooed than not.

Thanks for yr comments @Dhopper, @TNBradley, @CABS, @gougetheeyes, @Androosh I'm very happy with it. And yes, Eddy has amazing stories!! BTW, the "squid pants" (I think that's what you call them here) he posted on Instagram yesterday are amazing. Well worth checking out.

Yep. I already posted this on the "Full back piece experience" thread, but here is an image taken right after we were done from Eddy's instagram account. Done in four consecutive days. Not quite finished but very close.

I got rock of ages back piece from him a month ago. It was a great experience. I want to get more work from him.

Thanks for your comments! I'm very excited with the piece. I forgot to include another part of my experience that I think you all would appreciate... So when I was going crazy with anticipation waiting to see a drawing for the piece and checking my email a billion times a day, Eddy sends an email saying that his "old friend Dan Higgs" said "whoa" three times in a row when he saw the drawing and that that was a very good omen. And then my head almost exploded ;)

I just flew from Tokyo to LA and spent four consecutive days getting a Rock of Ages on my back from Eddy Deutsche. Although I got my first tattoo over 15 years ago, I only became obsessed with tattooing in the last few years. This forum has been very informative so I thought I'd share my experience.The pics are all taken from Eddy's instagram account. I decided I wanted a ROA back piece from Eddy; repeatedly pouring over copies of Tattoo Time was a big part of this decision. I e-mailed him three months ago telling him that I wanted a ROA, but not a trad one. He asked if I was open to Sci-Fi elements, I said yes please, and here's what I got ;) We had planned to do four days of four hours. I was terrified from having read the longest sessions thread, but Eddy assured me that "the stoke" would pull me through and it did. I did the entire thing straight. We didn't, however, do 16hrs; we ended up doing something like 3, 4, 2, and 2. The second day was the roughest and basically doing my whole right side rib area on the third was also painful. The comment I got from Freddy Corbin on the third day (shown in the last pic) made my day. It's not done, but we came very close. Eddy was awesome, entertaining, and supportive, and despite the pain, the whole thing couldn't have been a more pleasurable experience. I look forward to going back for more.

Wow, did you name your son after Mike Malone?

Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986) This might not count because I think Tom Waits' tattoos are real.

The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)

The Indian Runner (Sean Penn, 1991)

I've been skateboarding for a long time. This was my second tattoo. 94 or 95 I think. I asked the tattooer to put the image on my upper arm and he was kind enough to persuade me against it. He told me that it's best not get cartoony images on one's upper body. I couldn't be more grateful for his advice. I've been stoked again on the tattoo lately though. Maybe because Grosso is killing it. I got a chance to show it to him in New York a while ago too. I was totally fanning out.

In Tokyo, I've only gotten tattooed by my friend Megu (Megumu Kamata | Facebook), who also works at Invisible in New York. He did the black and gray fine-line lady head. I think he's very good and has a very unique perspective on tattooing. He works in Japanese style too. I got my latest tattoo the snake rip from Bailey Hunter Robinson in New York last December. I got the tiger from Sara Schor, also in New York about two years ago... Alas my tattoos aren't very "Japanese"!

I've been wanting a wizard tattoo... Valerie Vargas' tattoo of the Rollo wizard, which she posted on her blog a while ago, is unsurprisingly amazing.

Hello I'm a tattoo fan/burgeoning collector based in Tokyo. I've been visiting this site for a while and it's been incredibly addictive, entertaining, and informative. Glad to be here and hope you're all enjoying the new year. T