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The story
When EXILE’s TAKAHIRO posted Instagram footage of himself rehearsing for his solo concert at Nippon Budokan on the 25th, a heavily inked tattoo on his upper arm caught viewers’ attention and became a talking point. On 5channel’s Geinou/Sports News+ board, some brushed it off with comments like “he’s a celebrity, of course” and “people make way too big a deal out of tattoos these days,” while others held firm to boundaries like “just don’t show up in public spaces like public baths or pools.” The thread laid bare a generational divide between those who see tattoos as mere fashion and those who don’t.
Wed, 9/23, 7:50 AM
EXILE’s TAKAHIRO is drawing attention with his latest appearance.
He opened with, “Singing… is seriously hard. (lol)” and shared footage on Instagram of himself rehearsing for his solo concert set for the 25th at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Japan's just catching up to how it is overseas
Is this still a work in progress? The design looks kind of half-finished
A toupee isn't fashion, it's like dentures
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbbDAL8U4AAATEF.jpg
Guess in his youthful folly he got a pretty lame tattoo
Yikes, yiiikes…
Why do people even get tattoos? Isn't it just to intimidate people — like, ‘I'm scary because I have a tattoo’?
If there's any other reason, I'd like to hear it
Is Messi's tattoo intimidation too?
Guess that's just how it looks to a coward who gets scared of tattoos
Intimidation and self-harm
The downside → people like you, a dying breed, whining about it
Not everyone loves public baths and pools anyway. And it wouldn't be strange for Takahiro to have his own bath or pool at home
Once it becomes just fashion, that ‘downside to the people around you’ argument you old-timers keep making stops holding up. You guys never argue anything beyond your personal taste, that's why nobody takes you seriously
Exactly this. Getting one is fine. Just don't show it off in places the public can see
It's heading that way. Same flow as dyed blond hair used to be
Must hurt getting that done
Background and Key Points of This Topic
In Japan, tattoos have long been associated with Edo-period criminal punishment and, later, with the image of the yakuza, and that association is still the basis for being turned away from public baths, hot springs, and pools. In recent years, however, growing overseas cultural influence and a rise in influencers have led more young people to view tattoos simply as decoration, and this thread’s generational temperature gap became the main line of conflict. The focus isn’t “whether getting a tattoo is right or wrong” but rather “how much should be tolerated in public spaces,” and there’s hardly any criticism directed at TAKAHIRO personally. Worth noting too, as pointed out within the thread itself, is that articles like this one follow a familiar formula of cherry-picking both pro and con comments to build a headline — and that very technique also drew criticism from posters in the thread.
※This article is composed as an excerpt and summary of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “EXILE’s TAKAHIRO Shows Heavily Tattooed Arm, Sparking Comments of ‘Fashion Item,’ ‘He’s a Celebrity After All,’ and ‘Too Much Fuss Over Tattoos These Days’.”
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