Tattoos? In Japan? Reaaallly?

One of the surprising things I noted on our recent trip to Nagoya was the number of people I saw walking around with visible tattoos. Once a faux pas that seemed to intrinsicly tie someone to organized crime, the permanent skin inking seems to be becoming more accepted at least in some urban environments.

We personally saw several separate tattooed individuals at different points during the trip, as well as this sign.



I don't know if it's the influx of foreign tattooed tourists helping to normalize this or some other social forces at play, or if perhaps the mob is just bigger in the south and tattoos still mean what they used to. I really don't know.

Are tattoos increasingly common in your part of Japan?