There is a warning to be made here. A Western-born person going for the heavily-tattooed “horimono” look will open his or herself up to accusations of cultural tourism at best, and offensive appropriation of a culture at worst. You may like the art involved, but people have been physically beaten up for taking on the horimono look when they are not themselves of Oriental extraction. This is particularly the case for certain designs favored by the Yakuza – the Japanese Mafia – who are unlikely to simply admire your ink and go about their business.

If you must go for an Oriental look or style and you yourself are not of Oriental background, then the safest approach is to go for calligraphy – a few symbols from the Japanese or Chinese alphabet will not truly offend anyone as long as they are the right symbols. Research the meanings of the symbols before you get the ink – the last thing you want is to be carrying around on your arm an insult to someone’s mother and family. On the negative side it won’t make you very popular, but on the positive you won’t have to pay to get it removed. There will be a queue of angry Chinese or Japanese people only too happy to help you remove it. If you are interested in previewing tattoos, please read the reviews of two online tattoo galleries.

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