Tattooist’s legal challenge could lift industry in Japan or send it underground
Tattooist Taiki Masuda is challenging a law that makes him a criminal for practicing what he considers a form of art.
In a case that could lift or doom thousands of tattoo artists nationwide, the 27-year-old designer in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, has appealed an order by a summary court in Osaka to pay a fine of ¥300,000 for violating the Medical Practitioners’ Law, which bans anyone other than licensed doctors from engaging in “medical practices.”
His pretrial arrangement proceedings — where his lawyer and prosecutors discuss points of contention in the upcoming trial — begin at the Osaka District Court on Friday.
While the law says nothing further, a 2001 notice issued by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry lists tattooing, laser hair removal and chemical peel treatments as procedures that can be carried out only by licensed medical doctors, as they “could cause danger from the standpoint of public health and sanitation.”
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Police raid
He was forced to suspend operations after police in April raided his studio in connection with a criminal case involving a Nagoya pharmacy that sold disinfectants over the Internet and was charged with violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
Under the law, disinfectants can be sold only in person, with verbal instructions given to the buyer at the point of sale. Masuda was raided because his name was on the pharmacy’s list of clients.
In August, Masuda was charged with violating the Medical Practitioners’ Law and was slapped with a ¥300,000 fine. He wavered about whether to comply with the order, and decided to challenge it.
“It’s not a huge amount, to be honest,” he said. “But I wondered if it’s something I should settle by money. If I admit to the charge, I will no longer be able to see my clients, who have said they are happy with my tattoos. I want what I do for a living to be seen as a respectable profession.”
Tattooists in Japan have long operated in the legal gray zone. Police turned a blind eye to their activities, said Michiko Kameishi, a lead lawyer for Masuda’s six-member counsel.
Between November 2001, when the health ministry issued prefectural health authorities with the notice banning tattooing by nondoctors, and this spring, police took action against tattooists over suspected violations of the Medical Practitioners’ Law on only three occasions, Kameishi said. Each involved the yakuza as practitioners or customers, and two ended up without indictment, she said.
Growing crackdown
That changed this April, when the Osaka Prefectural Police started cracking down on tattooists with no associations with the yakuza.
In August, a popular tattoo studio operator named Chopstick Tattoo in Osaka was busted, resulting in the arrests of five members of staff.
In November, staff were arrested at 8Ball Tattoo Studio, a high-profile establishment in Nagoya.
