Just came back from a 9-day trip to Japan, and I had a great time. One of the highlights was definitely hanging out in Asakusa, Tokyo for Sanja Matsuri. This festival is starting to be known for open displays of tattoos, something which is very unusual in Japan. In fact this year they banned riding on the mikoshi in order to discourage the more flamboyant displays of tattoos from yakuza types. Still, a few were out in force. Here are some of the pics I snapped. I believe everyone in this set of pictures was tattooed by Horigane (the fellow in the white suit). Please email me if you believe this info is incorrect, my Japanese is pretty bad so it's possible I misunderstood (added 11/27/07 - made a correction, the artist's name is Syodai Horigane (Kanazawa, Kesao), his website is at http://www.horigane.com). Anyway, check out the great work!

Sorry, I've been slacking on the updates. These pictures cover work from two sessions. As you can see, there's a bit more shading on my elbow and we've moved further up my arm. The tattoo on my arm is actually connected to my back for the first time.