The end of the Tattoo Ban
I’m very happy to deliver some good news in this crazy year that is 2020: On September 17 th , the Supreme Court of Japan (which is the highest court in the country) has LEGALIZED TATTOOING IN JAPAN!
I do not want to get in the technical details about the judgement, but in short, it means that tattooist don’t need to possess a medical practitioner’s license to tattoo. As mentioned in my last blog about the « Tattoo Ban », tattooing had fallen in a gray area of the law: Technically speaking, tattooing was not illegal but you needed a medical license to practice the art.
Therefore, according to the law, tattooists (who of course didn’t possess a medical practitioner’s license) were tattooing illegally. Indeed, in 2015, the court of Osaka condemned Taiki Masuda, a tattooist of 30 years old, to a 300,000 yens fine (approx. 3,600$ CAD) for violating the medical practice act, which reserve the right to tattoo to doctors only.
After 3 years of going back and forth, Taiki Masuda won his process in 2018. Still, we had to wait until 2020 to have the Supreme Court of Japan out rule this crazy law.
It’s huge news in the tattoo world! For artists in Japan, it’s seen as a huge relief! This means they can finally come out of hiding. They can start renting commercial spaces to tattoo, put banners outside their shops and even import tattooing tools and goods without the risk of getting arrested.
The Tattoo Ban has been very hard on Japanese tattooists. Since the ban, a lot of tattoo parlours have closed and a lot of Japanese tattooists have moved to other countries to practice their art. It’s possible that some Japanese artists decide to return to their homeland because of this news.
It’s important to keep in mind that this news will still have a low impact for now. The hardest step is still to come: changing the mentality of Japanese people towards tattoos. It will take years maybe even decades to have tattoos accepted as something mainstream by the population.
Tattooed people and tattooists know that they will still be stigmatised because of their ink. Banks, schools and companies will still have a negative attitude towards them. Nevertheless, they are very happy to see the government take a step in the right direction.
Acceptance will take time, but I’m very happy for my fellow tattooist in Japan! They can now practice the art they love without fearing of being criminalized.