(France 24) One tattoo artist in Japan is going head-to-head with the authorities in a landmark trial that could change the tattooing industry in the country. His campaign, ‘Save Tattooing’, is trying to dredge up support for a practice historically associated with organised violent crime – and heavily frowned upon in Japan.
Tattooist Taiki Masuda is taking the authorities to court over a 2015 fine he was handed after the police raided his tattoo parlour. The police exploited the vagueness of a 2001 law that says that only medical professionals can perform tattooing procedures, and used it to clamp down on a dozen tattoo businesses in Osaka, Japan’s second city. Osaka’s former mayor Toru Hashimoto (who left office at the end of 2015) took a hardline stance on tattoos. In a controversial move in 2012, he demanded that all city workers disclose their tattoos — and potentially lose their jobs as a result.
