From starkly rendered waves crashing over a shoulder to a stern samurai warrior wielding a sword on one’s back, the striking designs expressed in Japanese tattoos are among the most iconic in the ...

Never thought that delicate butterfly tattoo on your back could get you into trouble? Think again. In Japan, tattoos can get you banned from certain places, including the hugely popular onsens — the ...

In Japan, a country that worships smooth, clear skin, tattoos aren't welcomed on the body. They're even banned in local gyms. To avoid violating this aesthetic rule, one inked-up expat covered up all ...

Black is a color you won’t find on the walls of Ron Sugano’s tattoo parlor in the upmarket Meguro district of south-west Tokyo, where quaint geometric houses line quiet streets. Also absent are the ...

TOKYO — Ayaka Kizu, a web designer in Tokyo, stood by her office desk one recent day, peeling Band-Aids off an apple-size portion of her right arm. A meeting with clients had ended, so she was now ...

Tattooing was used for decorative purposes by the people of ancient Japan for centuries before falling out of favor in the seventh century as rulers adopted the Chinese custom of using tattoos as ...

“Tattoo is not taboo,” insist two hair dye company employees, and they’ve developed the product to prove it—vanishing tattoos made with special inks that disappear in a week. While tattoos are widely ...