Maori guest lecturer banned from Hokkaido onsen for...

[dimwit]

Well, I for one am glad for one that I will have the opportunity to share a bath with a Russian who has skull and dagger tats.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign ... n-pictures

[kurogane]

Oh, please let's all hope they keep refusing those pigfuckers. Tats don't bug me but Russkies that think a bath is a bar do.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Tattoos are for pieces of garbage and unless you've been in a gang, the military, or prison there's no excuse.

[matsuki]

Tattoos are for pieces of garbage and unless you've been in a gang, the military, or prison there's no excuse.

Dammit! I totally had my eyes on this tramp stamp!!

[dimwit]

I bet ya he's married.

[legion]

Legion,
Not to be pedantic, but Nihilism is 虚無主義, but even if the Kanji was different but still a Buddhist or Eastern notion then there might have been something lost in translation.

I checked that compound. I think the young man, who had been a yankee in his teens had done the yankee thing of digging up some more obscure kanji from the back of the dictionary. In it's own 虚 would be like putting "bud" and saying it stood for Zen Buddhist.

Still, interesting to think that my western take on nihilism may have been totally different to theirs, and in that light kind of fitting the guy went on to become a corporate samurai.

[kurogane]

Interesting stuff. My impressions of Japanese nihilism as opposed to our understanding of ours is that the former is an adoption of a rather extreme religious ethos, whereas ours is the total rejection of Christian dogma as the source of meaning. Plus, from what I get they aren't rejecting meaning or value so much as seeking to transcend the shackles or fetters of the material world hoping to find exactly that, like in Death of a Tea Master (Sen no Rikyu Honkakubou no Ibun) whereas Our Nihilism does seem to be a negative or cynical rejection of any aspiration towards meaning or value (allowing that Our Nihilism is internally complex and even contradictory).　

Yup.

[Taro Toporific]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/08/japan-tries-to-please-rugby-world-cup-fans-with-rethink-on-tattooed-bather-ban
“With the Olympics coming up as well, we feel the need to discuss the issue of tattoos.”

correct-tat.jpg

[matsuki]

Despite the growing popularity of fashion tattoos, including among young Japanese with no yakuza connections, cultural resistance is proving hard to break down, with onsen owners citing objections from other bathers.

A 2015 survey by the Japan Tourism Agency found that around 60% of onsen operators banned people with tattoos.

Young Japanese: Tattoo? Who cares?

Reasonable older Japanese: Tattoo? Who cares?

Most older Japanese: Tattoo?! Must respect Japanese culture!! Japaneeeezu rules! No tattoo!!

[wagyl]

I think it is more the case that it only takes one complaint for the people who run the business to do something -- anything -- to look like they are taking steps to address the complaint. Even if the steps taken are nothing more than a rule which is not enforced.

I remember when I was in a small neighbourhood sento in Tokyo, and an actual, real live, there was no denying it yakuza chimpira got in the bath. He was not a local, it was after a summer festival event and he appeared to have come from another area altogether. And I''m talking Nakano-ku, not Taito where you might expect the occasional visitor from that line of business. Suddenly, no one there seemed to feel like they wanted to make a complaint to the management about him. He had a very relaxing bath.

Being a fan of wild onsen myself, there were quite a few times when I got to admire expensive and painful artwork while in baths which were not under any management at all. The yaks know where to go where they will not cause a scene as well.

[matsuki]

Yes, that's the reality of it, I'm just parroting the banter of the people I've encountered over the years. The ones who are most "concerned" seem to be the least aware of this reality and seem to use it to pump up their nationalist ego against inked gaijin who are upset with the rules. As you know Wags, I'm not one of them so it doesn't directly affect me...but I do find the effort to ban them quite silly and self defeating.

The only thing offensive to me at onsen are the greasy jiji who walk in, only splash some water on themselves, then walk right in.