Travel Writers: Ed Hardy in Japan

We were standing in the light rain by a small lake.  There was an old woman deeply intoning a sutra, surrounded by ceramic white foxes that are the symbol of good fortune and glad tidings.  These Inari shrines have swarms of fox statues, different sizes.  In the middle of the pond, standing straight up on his fins, was a giant, completely white koi.  I went all chicken skin before he splashed back in the water.  I am deep in fucking Japan, now, I thought.  It was hypnotic, the kind of complex convergence of ancient tradition, symbolism, and nature, beyond words.  That country got into my blood.

~ Ed Hardy, Wear Your Dreams: My Life in Tattoos

My travel mentor and dear friend Nate said that when you stop having these moments on the road it's time to get off.

Ed Hardy, while in Kyoto, Japan, describes those moments better than anyone I've read thus far.  Places can get in your blood, and when they do, they never leave.

It's a poetic description that only a tattoo artist could write, because he knows something about drawing blood and putting permanent images into a person's body.  Japan was permanently inked in him, and it was done without a needle.

The book is well worth a read for anyone interested in American tattoo history and Hardy's role in making tattoo images as popular as they are today.

In one section, he talks about how tattoos are spreading across the world, and he comes to a conclusion very similar to the Steve Job's quote I used in a previous post:

Tattoo is one of the few true examples of global culture, easily permeating otherwise strict boundaries of geography, language, or ethnic identity.  One world--one tattoo.

SB and I were blown away by how many people had tattoos in China.  We found a couple tattoo shops in Fujian province.  I was surprised by their flash and hygiene, or lack there of.

Bath Time at the tattoo parlor in Zhangpu.  Notice the flash on the wall.   This shop specializes in eyebrows and lips.

Olivier told us a story about a shop he visited in Xiamen.  When an artist would finish a tattoo, they wouldn't change the needles or clean the machines, just start on the next person.  Talk about blood borne pathogens.