I dont want to offend you, but i gotta ask what up with the japanese culture tatoo thing. Why does this culture appeal to people so much? It's quite popular now days, no? I mean, if there is one culture on the face of the earth that most Americans are farthest from, its prob this culture. So why has it be so strongly sought out by American 20 somethings wanting tattoos? What happened to good ole American "Momma" tatoos.
Haha, no offense taken.
I was wondering if someone was going to ask this question... I don't know where to begin. If it's "qualifications" you're looking for... My B.A. is in both Psych and Japanese; I can speak it, I can write it. In regards to the tattoo itself, I took an entire course devoted to analyizing Hojoki in its original classical Japanese text (think Old English vs. modern English).
Based on these things, you could argue that my tattoo would be more meaningful to me than a non-Asian person wandering into a tattoo parlor and getting the kanji for "strength" or "flower" tattooed on their arm. However, I'm not sure
anyone should have to justify why they attained a cultural tattoo. It's such a personal form of expression. As someone who is not Japanese but has studied it extensively and lived in Japan, I of course am of the opinion that cultures are fluid, ever-changing, and that cultural exchange is inevitable and can be positive. Should only people of a certain culture "reserve the right" to access pieces of that culture, or even claims to pieces of that culture? I personally don't think so.
Would the average Japanese person in my same SES and age group get a tattoo like this? Probably not --- most in this category don't get tattoos, period. And if they did, most of those 20-somethings in Japan probably haven't really studied Hojoki the way I have, the same way an international person who majored in post-modern English literature may have studied an important text much more extensively than the average American. What does it mean for a non-Japanese person to personally "claim" an inherently Japanese piece of history in a format that most Japanese people don't even partake in? Who knows!
As for the exoticism of Asia, American obsession with Japanese culture, the cross-cultural adaptation of East and West, etc... This is a huge cultural anthro and East Asian topic that deserves its own thread on a different forum. And even then, we would never be able to fully address the questions surrounding it, because cultural questions are so complex!
By getting this tattoo, would I be contributing to the western exoticism of Japan? Maybe... Would I be the target of scrutiny by the general public and stigmatized for being a non-Asian person with a Japanese tattoo? Definitely. There are many reasons why I haven't gone through with getting it done...