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Asked my Japanese in-laws about tattoos and learned why my father-in-law has kept his shirt on at every pool day for 20 years
I asked my wife's family in Osaka why nobody ever swims or visits the onsen when we visit, and my mother-in-law explained that visible ink there is tied to the yakuza so my father-in-law has hid a small tattoo on his shoulder from his own grandkids for decades, which made me realize how much a single mark can carry in one place and mean nothing in another. Anyone else find out a family member has been quietly hiding something like that over nothing more than where they live?
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phoenix2148d ago
The bit about your father-in-law hiding a shoulder tattoo from his own grandkids for 20 years is wild. That man has been doing the world's longest shirt-at-the-pool bit out of pure caution. My uncle married a woman from Tokyo and he swears her grandma still covers up a tiny flower tattoo like it's a crime scene. It's funny until you remember the actual reasons behind it, then it's just kind of sad that a little ink runs their whole summer plans.
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