There's a lot of controversy surrounding Japan's rules regarding foreigners and some people consider it racism, others call it xenophobia (the fear of foreigners), but is it just a simple case of ignorance?In many places, foreigners with tattoos are told to leave the shop, or onsen (natural spring) and the history behind this is due to the Yakuza wearing tattoos, which leads to people (locals) feel uncomfortable as they think that person is part of the Yakuza. Although tattoos have had quite the history for being banned and an unacceptable thing to have on the human canvas, Japan has recently been looking into improving its image a little by allowing more and more foreigners use public baths and spaces even if they have tattoos.What about those shops that disallow foreigners? Aren't they being racist? Well, not exactly. You see, foreigners assume that everyone in Japan speaks English but in reality most probably don't and those that do are probably bad at it. With that in mind, if a shop owner and their employees do not speak English, how can they communicate with the customer? This is especially the case in clubs where you might really need to know Japanese and a strict rule of "no foreigners without a Japanese companion". After all, liability is a big thing for businesses and they don't want to be liable for your ignorance, I know I wouldn't.But then there are the very ignorant. The kind that gets Kanji tattooed on their arm, back, or wherever without really knowing what it means. Well, instead of going about what could possibly go wrong in putting complete faith in a tattoo artist, let's watch a video that our friend Ken Tanaka and his brother David Ury whom recently published this video for silly humor.Generally there will always be a sense of racism in every country, particularly a country that houses over 90% of the same race, but let's be honest here. When you step into someone else's territory, you need to also understand some of their customs and language or bring someone that does. Being offended because you have a tattoo of something offensive is just silly. Be rational, and don't just get random tattoos.

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