tattoos in japan

Recently a mayor in Osaka, which is a city in the Kansai region of japan has created quite stir in japan with a controversial survey of the city workers. He asked all the city workers if any of them had tattoos and if so what was the tattoo of and where was it located on their body.  This all stemmed from incident at a welfare center where a city worker showed off his tattoo which then scared some children at the welfare facility. 33,546 city employees were surveyed and out of those 33,546, a 110 said they had at least one tattoo, and 98 of those 110 said that there tattoo was visible. The mayor then said that those who wanted to have tattoos should quit working for the city and go into the private sector. A possible code of ethics might be proposed for city workers in order to regulate tattoos; this issue has sparked huge debate on privacy in japan and where exactly the line is for civil servants. This stems from an older generation that still associate tattoos with criminal activity since the yakuza in japan were well known for their colorful tattoos that were often used denote their particular affiliation and their ranking with in the gang. Although this is less common their still is a stigma attached with the tattoos for most in japan. It can also have a serious impact on the social acceptance by others in japan, it can also keep you from entering certain public place due to the fact the some places will not allow you to enter if you have a tattoo as it can make people feel uneasy. This is most common at public bathhouse and the hot springs as well. It goes on to say how in the article that suggests employees with visible tattoos to get them removed. The city then said that most of the employees who had tattoos work in either sanitation or the transportation departments. This debate has sparked a larger conversation about tattoos and the privacy rights of people in japan and the ability of their employer to dictate certain rules about what they can and cannot do in their personnel life.

Here is a link to the article: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120518a4.html