Yakuza Daughter Autobiography

[Mulboyne]

Shoko Tendo
Asahi: Yakuza daughter rises above her background
Everyone has a secret. Shoko Tendo's secret is sensitive to the touch; sensitive to the light of prying eyes. She keeps it hidden. But the moon knows. It loves the dragons that dance on her arm; it caresses her back and the geisha with the dagger in her mouth. From the base of her neck to tips of her toes, the moon bathes her tattoos in its light and reveals secrets of its own. In the light of day, the 37-year-old woman has received recognition after her autobiography "Yakuza na Tsuki" (Yakuza moon) was published last year...more...

[American Oyaji]

Spunky lass.

Good on her!!

[maraboutslim]

Sounds interesting. But since the "review" was so detailed on the content, I now have no need to read the book.

[Skankster]

-
-
This girls has some of the most beautiful tattos all over her body.
All are displayed in the latest Japanese Tatoo Magazine @ your local bookstore.

I once fucked a girl with yakuza tatoos... it was a pleasant turn-on!
(and so was knowing that her husband was locked up in jail )

[Mulboyne]

Now in English.

[floatr][/floatr]Japan Today: Growing up in yakuza society
Born a yakuza's daughter, by her teens plunged into a world of sex and drugs, tattooed in her 20s ... Shoko Tendo's eyes have the knowing sparkle of someone who has been to hell and back. In this true story, she presents a shocking yet intensely moving first-person account of her experience of growing up in yakuza society. Born into the family of a wealthy yakuza boss, Tendo lived her early years in luxury. But labeled "the yakuza kid," she was the victim of bullying and discrimination from teachers and classmates at school, and of her father's violent rages at home. The family fell into debt, and Tendo fell in with the wrong crowd. By the age of 15, she was a gang member, by the age of 18 a drug addict, and her young adulthood was marked by a series of abusive and violent relationships with men. After the death of her parents and her own attempt at suicide, Tendo turned her life around. A pivotal moment was the decision to get tattooed: an act of empowerment that helped her take control of her life. This is the universally appealing story of a young woman's successful struggle to escape from a life of ostracism and abuse, and a rare glimpse into Japan's closed yakuza world from an insider's viewpoint.

[Catoneinutica]

"A pivotal moment was the decision to get tattooed: an act of empowerment that helped her take control of her life."

That's all I needed to know.

-catone
-won't be buying it

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: After years of eclipse, Yakuza Moon author sees the light

...One of the forces that propelled Tendo back on track was a dramatic one -- she got a traditional Japanese-style irezumi tattoo of a feudal era courtesan etched onto most of her body. The full-body work stretches from her forearms to her shins, separated only by the wareme, the open patch of bare skin between her breasts...Despite the inspiration her irezumi has provided, Tendo says the work remains a mostly intimate object. "I normally never show my irezumi or wear anything that shows it off. Young people show off their tattoos as fashion, but I absolutely refuse to show them off. It's something I regard as manners. If ordinary people find something sinister in my irezumi, I make sure I don't show it to them. My irezumi are for my satisfaction so there's no need to flash it off to all and sundry," she says. "I'll show it for work, or events, but that's different. That's for those places. But I don't go out and show it off just for the sake of it." Having blanketed a large majority of her body area with the irezumi, there can be some uncomfortable moments. "I don't regret a thing about my irezumi. But I did really start to feel extremes in temperature. In summer, sweat pours off me like a waterfall in the areas where I haven't been tattooed. When I have a bowl of noodles, the sweat streams off my face and neck and the wareme. And in winter, my feet get absolutely freezing. I guess it all has to do with my skin breathing," she says. "But I can only ever buy the same clothes -- long sleeves and trousers"...more...

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]
Blood ties: Yakuza daughter lifts lid on hidden hell of gangsters' families
Unexpected bestseller reveals Tokyo underworld of drugs, abuse and tattoos
The Guardian - Wednesday June 27, 2007 - by Justin McCurry in Tokyo
It is only when Shoko Tendo removes her tracksuit top that you appreciate why, even on a hot day, she prefers to remain covered up in public...more...

[martindesu]

Link's not working for me... Kool photos though, I want to see more.

[Taro Toporific]

Link's not working for me... Kool photos though, I want to see more.

Oops. I forgot an "l" on the address ending in html. There are plenty more photos.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2112374,00.html

[Ke11iente]

They've got a pic in there of a guy with a full body tatoo in a public bath. I thought if you had any tattoos, they wouldn't let you in the bath without covering them up first?

[Jack]

They've got a pic in there of a guy with a full body tatoo in a public bath. I thought if you had any tattoos, they wouldn't let you in the bath without covering them up first?

Unless he owns the bath or hotel wherever he is.

[Ptyx]

i've been to public bath and onsen where there were full tatooed guys.
This is not a law, it's a rule that some onsen have and others don't.

[dimwit]

You see them every once in a while. Onsens -especially the respectable ones don't encourage them but they don't bar them either. They are bad for business and I certainly don't want to share a bath with a guy who in all likelihood has Hep C.

[American Oyaji]

I was at a bath when a dude like that was there. It was strange how he had guys running around fetching stuff for him. I just watched the silliness go on and shook my head.

[Naniwan Kid]

It's a pretty good book. I recommend it...for what it's worth.

It isn't so crazy, but gives the perspective of a Yakuza daughter...of a Yakuza that DIDN'T succeed.

[emperor]

Reuters: Gangster daughter sheds light on Japan underworld

via Digg

[American Oyaji]

I will be buying that book.

[Phoenix_stu]

I certainly don't want to share a bath with a guy who in all likelihood has Hep C.

Going by today's standards of saftey and sanitation in the tattooing communtity, you actually think that anyone with a tattoo has Hep C? You must have been locked up in prison your whole life where that sort of thing is common.

[FG Lurker]

You must have been locked up in prison your whole life where that sort of thing is common.

Actually, if memory serves, dimwit is married to someone who sees a lot of people with Hep C, the vast majority of whom have tattoos.

That doesn't mean all tattooed people have Hep C of course, but the risk seems to be higher than it should be.

[Phoenix_stu]

I completely understand that is is comon in this industry as I have worked in it for almost 10years. The thing is that you can't base your opinion on just the ones that go into a clinic or hospital to be treated or diagnosed. There are many highly respectable shops that practice a very safe trade. I will have to agree that here in Japan the standards and requirements of a tattoo artist and thier shop are significantly lower than that of other parts of the world. Thus causing concern. In places like Europe and the US. The requirements set up to have a shop and maintain it are very strict and have to go by many sanctioned guidelines, which are kept tabs on a regular basis. Whereas here there are very few guidelines if any.

[FG Lurker]

Whereas here there are very few guidelines if any.

Exactly, and that is why there are still a lot of people who get Hep C from tattooing in Japan.

[maraboutslim]

I haven't read the book, don't know anything more about the author than what I've read in the brief media blurbs, but...i'm totally fascinated by her. Wow.

[American Oyaji]

I'd hit it.

[Greji]

I'd hit it.

You'd might not be disapointed!

Note closed blinds in my apartment!

[maraboutslim]

amazing. i'm fascinated, i tell you.

[hundefar]

amazing. i'm fascinated, i tell you.

By what? The drug and alcohol abuse? That she was beaten up? Her tats? What?

[Mike Oxlong]

Where's your sense of adventure? Didn't Oscar Wilde say "I like men who have a future, and women who have a past..."?

[hundefar]

Where's your sense of adventure? Didn't Oscar Wilde say "I like men who have a future, and women who have a past..."?

Actually it is because I have had too many crazy women that I am wondering why some one would find such a fucked up individual as this girl fascinating.

[Greji]

Where's your sense of adventure? Didn't Oscar Wilde say "I like men who have a future, and women who have a past..."?

Adventure? Just an accurate statement of facts as I see it! Give me a vet that can run that beaver like a blender and enjoys doing so. That is my definition of true love. Leave the virgin patrol to the romantics!