Many inked-up tourists have experienced a level of culture shock when travelling in Japan - where tattoos are highly stigmatised and can see you unable to enter some of the country's most popular tourist activities.
People with tattoos are banned from most onsen (hot springs), sento (public baths), ryokan (traditional inns), pools, gyms and even capsule hotels.
If you have a tattoo, you might find yourself unable to enter an onsen for a soak. Photo / Getty Images
In 2013, Erana Te Haeata Brewerton, a Maori academic visiting Hokkaido for an indigenous languages conference, was denied entry to a hot spring due to her facial ta moko.
The incident caused controversy in Japan and saw one senior cabinet minister say greater respect needed to be shown for foreign cultures - in particular, ahead of events like the Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The current stigma around tattoos is largely due to the association of ink with Japanese organised crime syndicates, or Yakuza. Japan has two tattoo cultures - Western and Yakuza - and while it seems unlikely that a foreign tourist would be confused with one, the rules generally exist to keep gang members out of certain spaces.
However, these attitudes date back to the Edo period (1603-1868), where criminals were punished with tattoos. In the same era, sex workers - known as "Yuujyo" - would also get tattoos to show romantic devotion to their regular customers.
Tattoos started to become illegal in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and were only legalised in 1948 by occupying forces. However, this rule did not apply to foreigners.
While the stigma undoubtedly remains, facilities are beginning to open up to people with tattoos - although a lot of the time, this only applies to tourists and tattooed Japanese people are still locked out.
Having visited Japan while sporting several large tattoos - including a prominent black cat on my forearm - I found myself resigned to being unable to have a good hot spring soak, until I did a bit of research.
Wth a bit of research, I found a tattoo-friendly capsule hotel to stay at - Anshin Oyada Luxury Capsule Hotel in Ogikubo, Toyko. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by a sign outside the hotel reading "some of our guests have tattoos, please respect our international visitors".
So far, so good - I enjoyed a good soak in the hotel's artificial onsen that night, with all my tattoos on full display.
Many hot springs have signs informing visitors that tattoos are not welcome. Photo / Flickr, Hajime Nakano
When it comes to onsen with a tattoo ban, if you're not sporting full sleeves and a big backpiece, smaller tattoos can easily be covered up by waterproof, flesh-coloured stickers. These can be purchased at department stores like Don Quixote (worth visiting for the constantly playing jingles) and some onsen will even provide them to customers.
Due to a growing number of western tourists, the Japanese Tourism Agency attempted to tackle the issue back in 2015, taking a survey of about 3800 ryokan about their attitudes to tattooed guests. The results found that 56 per cent would refuse guests with tattoos, while 31 per cent said they do not and 13 per cent would permit entry if tattoos were covered.
Since then, a website (tattoo-friendly.jp) has been launched to help travellers find tattoo friendly facilities around the country.
Members of the Japanese Yakuza Takahashi-gumi crime syndicate parade during the Sanja festival in Asakusa, Tokyo. Photo / Getty Images
Attitudes are even beginning to change among the locals, with more younger Japanese people getting inked - albeit quite discreetly most of the time and not necessarily with traditional designs.
And during my trip, one of my nicest interactions was through that black cat tattoo. I was taking my bags up on an elevator in the Ikebukuro train station in Tokyo when a very elderly man pointed at it and said, "tattoo… nice", before saying "nyanko" - the Japanese word for "kitty".
So if you're visiting Japan with a significant amount of ink, be prepared to be turned away from some places, but don't be too disheartened. The times, they are a-changing.
