ABSTRACT
The tattoo is associated with play in many countries, and this frivolity has recently spilt over into Japan in a big way, especially among young people. In Japan, tattooing has a deadly serious side too, however. Defining the boundaries of play is a difficult enterprise, of course. One person’s play is another’s toil, and ‘play’ often incorporates a serious purpose beneath the apparent fun. Moreover, activities that amuse members of one society, or one sector of a wider society, may well offend a different one. The association between play and tattooing is highly ambiguous in Japan, complicated by a global resurge of interest in the subject, and this chapter will seek to explore the meaning of this curious example of Japanese playfulness.
