A fissure of excitement spread among my student friends in the 1970s when a film fanzine reported that the actor Helen Mirren sported a tiny tattoo on the sole of her foot. Four decades later, a similar fizz rippled through Japan when it was revealed that Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to the country from 2013 to 2017, sported two tattoos, one visible -- a small butterfly under her right elbow. Would she be admitted to Japan's notoriously conservative hot springs, swimming pools and gyms, we wondered?
Tea Leaves
Japan's 'cool' tattoo culture reflects changing values
Indelible body art is no longer confined to ranks of the underworld
Tattoos may not have yet entered the mainstream in Japan, but the stigma surrounding them is fading. (Screenshot from Red Bunny Tattoo's Instagram page)
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