City Country Culture

Japan's Tattoo Taboo (1x7)

Air date: May 12, 2022

In the buzzing city of Tokyo; works of art aren't just in museums or zen gardens... there's also the hidden masterpieces that don't get displayed. The traditional tattoo, called irezumi, is thousands of years old and carries with it the weight of a long and rich tradition. But modern mainstream Japan has little time for this forgotten slice of history. From the 13th century onwards, tattoos became a marker of social deviance and criminality. In modern Japan, it marked out the members of the brutal Yakuza. But now, it's having a renaissance among Japanese youth.