Tokyo Knights

Lal Hardy reports from the land of the rising sun.

- Lal Hardy

Many readers will be aware of the recent controversies surrounding tattooing in certain areas of Japan. In a country whose rich tattoo tradition has had such an impact on tattooing worldwide, the art is now being controlled in a manner that is, in reality, curtailing or even banning it. On my recent travels to the Land of the Rising Sun, I caught up with a few tattoo friends in Tokyo to see first hand if they had been affected by the recent court rulings in Osaka.

I run a small tattoo history group on Facebook known as 'Knights of the Round Shader'. After posting a question on the group page asking if any members fancied meeting up in Tokyo, I found myself in the good company of Rhys Gordon, Dean Reardon, Gummy Johnston and Mayonaize (all from Australia) plus fellow Brits Woodfarm, Dave T Taylor and Nick Iovene.

First stop on our short trip was Shinjuku, and a meeting with Japanese tattoo artist Megumu and the rest of the gang. The Shinjuku district is a large slice of neon madness. From my hotel room window I could see a giant Godzilla bellowing smoke atop one building with King Kong climbing up the side of another. Walking through the bustling streets I spied a huge sign depicting a tattoo-style tiger and a girl with a koi tattoo. This, however, was not a tattoo studio but the Robot Restaurant – a completely crazy place where for a couple of hours you can sit and drink while all manner of mad robots, warriors and monsters do battle. Well worth the experience should you ever find yourself in Tokyo (instagram @robotrestaurant).