You have money to buy things?! Why is all of your disposable income not being given as an offering to our lord and savior the crabigator?!
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Our lord is merciful. It’s a bless I’m given this opportunity by the great Crabigator.
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I like this. I consider myself a shopping procrastinator. If I like something on Amazon, it stays in my shopping cart for months. Then it either gets ditched, or rarely purchased. 
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I have a wishlist on Amazon with ~200 books. With the years, there’s a lot of stuff in there I won’t purchase anymore 
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I would personally use the tattoo as a reward for learning to read Japanese. Not only will you understand the tattoo better for yourself, but you’ll be able to make decisions regarding it more carefully… font, formatting, exact word choice, etc. It’s amazing how much your interpretation of a simple line of text can change between when you kind of understand it and when you really understand it.
It’ll also then have more meaning for you. Not only will the tattoo be of a quotation that’s important to you, but it’ll also be a representation of a pretty big academic achievement of yours.
Basically, tattoos are forever and it’s always worth waiting a little longer to make sure they’re perfect.
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Really good advice. Before I got my first (and so far only) tattoo I had already decided I wouldn’t get a tattoo until I could stay excited about a specific image for 6-12 months. Because if I wasn’t still excited and really wanted a specific image after a few months, how likely was I gonna be happy with it years later? I’m still happy with my tattoo 2+ years later.
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My 2 cents (not worth much because of the Australian exchange rate)
Go for it. It’s a nice design
Do what you want. It’s your body. Writing-style tattoos aren’t my thing and I daresay most of my tattoos aren’t other people’s thing. Luckily, I got my tattoos for me
Unless you are living a totally Japanese lifestyle, don’t sweat the tattoo. I know you weren’t the one to posit the notion that because you love Japanese culture you must live your life to their norms but I’m going to argue against that anyway
Are you also using house-only slippers, floor tables, politely fighting to be the last to leave work, getting trashed most nights of the week with you co-workers etc? You aren’t native Japanese and aren’t beholden to their societal norms (nor your own, really, as long as you aren’t hurting anyone)
4 of my mates got a tattoo while in Japan (separately, not like a group thing). Tattoos are “a thing” in Japan and quite a few people have them, just in easily hidden places (2 of my friends asked their artist, plus a quick scan of the shops showed non-yakuza people getting tattoos, especially women)
Last of all, the “meaning” stuff. I did it, too, for my 1st tattoo. I had the picture on my wall for 10 months to make sure I loved it and all that. This comic sums up what it’s like now
My only caveat is that you get what you pay for. Don’t go cheap
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I got my first tattoo about 2 months ago, and it was a motif I’ve had in mind for something like ~10 years haha, but I have a feeling future tattoos will be chosen within a matter of weeks/months rather than years 
@anon79590732, I’d like to echo someone above - find an artist who specialises in Japanese/Chinese calligraphy tattoos, because it will make such a difference to the feel of the tattoo, and it would also be a wonderful way to honour your love of Japan/the Japanese language, because calligraphy is such a big part of the culture.
(I was so surprised to learn that Calligraphy Club was a thing at the schools I worked at when I was an ALT! I can’t imagine that happening anywhere in the UK!!)
Also tattoos are totally a part of Japanese culture, and one of my favourite people I met in Japan had a bunch of tattoos (and nothing to do with yakuza 
)
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I really like the advice given here. I don’t have any tattoos partly because I know once I start, there’s no stopping. I want leaves and flowers and trees all over my body. OwO
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You did the right thing, which is to make sure the tattoo means exactly what you want it to.
As for what this action will represent a year, two, or ten years from now is really something different.
There’s one thing I can tell you that will hardly not apply to nearly everyone. You’ll be making choices throughout your life that are going to be a lot more consequential than an unwanted tattoo, and those are pretty much unavoidable. They’ll lock you in, so to speak in a fundamentally more profound way that makes a simple tattoo look silly in comparison.
Bad carrer choices, unwanted long term broken relationships, a failure to discipline yourself into a healthy lifestyle, or just not doing your WK reviews on time. Most of them will feel much worse in the long term than a simple tattoo, so don’t sweat it. If you find yourself truly regretting a small portion of ink on your body then you’ll just need to readjust your priorities.
Also, I second the “you get what you pay for” advice. Try to find a decent artist, if you can afford it. And if you can’t tell one from the other, ask someone that might.
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Just my short input. I got a tattoo that, at the time meant a lot to me, right in the middle of my chest. A small bird coming out of some triangle-ish dark portal. I only got it years ago and I already regret it, despite the message meaning so much to me, as it makes a lot of sense relating to my desire to escape every situation I’m -still- in and my home country.
Point is, you can be completely sure a tattoo is what you want, and still regret it afterwards.
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Just do whatever you feel is right for you ^^
I have a small triforce tattoo on my lower back and it hasn’t made life in Japan any harder other than trying to awkwardly hide it whenever I go to onsen, haha. But it’s in such a discreet place that I forget I have it most days.
Everyone has opinions on tattoos, and it’s nice to hear different thoughts on it, but at the end of the day, it’s your body, your choice. If you truly know in your heart that you want it, then you shouldn’t need others to validate those feelings. <3
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The only way that the “Japanese culture” aspect of it matters is if you want to someday go to certain onsen or public baths in Japan. I play golf, and they even have “no tattoos” signs on the baths in the clubhouses here most of the time. I don’t have tattoos, or want to go to the clubhouse baths, but some people might.
Of course, there are tattoo-friendly onsen and bathhouses as well, and some tattoos can be hidden for the purposes of going in to non-friendly ones too, but it’s just something to be aware of generally.
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That sounds lovely. Doooo eeeettt!!!
Yeah I remember going to Japan once and I was pretty surprised to see an ad in a paper or something (I forgot) that just straight up said no tattoos.
Yeah, I think having clearly visible tattoos may be troublesome depending on the situation. I met a guy that had tattoos on his arms, and he mentioned that he was refused entry into a public pool once. But again, it all depends on how strict the places are. Generally, if you behave properly and follow the guidelines, it’s no problem. Those no tattoo signs are usually just a means that they can enforce in case the yakuza want use those facilities. Japan is also slowly becoming more open, so those very strict, no gaijin traditional places are starting to become rarer and limited to the countryside.
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That’s a really good way of putting it, thank you.
Thank you so much for your support.
It is very sound advice yes, I’ve had this design drawn up for about 8 months and it’s only been my procrastination and pressure of getting it right. As well as the research of studios and artists, I’ve even had personal recommendations of some great people who work well with incooperating culture into designs and can stencil free hand superbly well, so I’m sure I’d be in great hands. It’s a place where you have to wait for months for an appointment anyway, because many people go there. Thank qyou so much all again.
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Thank you so much for your support and seconding advice, I have made sure to do my research very well and this artist is very talented with including culture within his work.
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