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The story
A video posted to X (formerly Twitter) showing tattooed young people was shared on 5ch’s “Live News” board (Nandemo Jikkyo G), sparking a heated debate. What started as a post saying “there sure are a lot more of these guys now” set off a wave of comments lamenting Japan’s declining public order — “these days it’s the serious, hardworking people who get mocked,” “politics is rotten with corruption, so of course things fall apart below” — while the claim that “tattoos are totally normal overseas” drew pushback: “isn’t that just a skewed impression from someone who’s only been to a few countries?” Some posters waxed nostalgic for the “golden age” of the mid-Heisei era, while others pointed to the influence of works like Tokyo Revengers. In the end, no consensus emerged on either the cause or how serious the problem really is.
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2092577925585612800/vid/avc1/720×1280/u97DhlrdmEkHPRDh.mp4?tag=29 Download Video
There sure are a lot more of these guys now
Source: video.twimg.com / original post here
What people said
It's become a world where whoever gets away with it wins.
Japan's really turned into a place where 'serious and hardworking' = 'idiot.'
Like being a troublemaker is supposed to be cool now.
Re: #6
Well, politics is about as corrupt as South America at this point.
Of course things trickle down.
Construction laborers (dokata), builders, real estate sales, fighters, rappers, apparel industry…
Something like that?
Isn't that just someone whose overseas experience is limited to (tattoo-heavy) countries?
Tattoos really are becoming more common in Japan too, no joke.
Lol, trying so hard to spin the narrative.
Why would you say that?
Have you never actually been to those countries?
https://x.com/ch765432/status/2092957887912149425
Even middle schoolers are getting tattoos these days, huh.
They're going to grow another size in high school — what happens to the tattoo then?
It's a temporary tattoo sticker.
Bring back the Showa era.
Was the Showa era really full of tattoos?
If you'd actually lived abroad you'd know tattoos get you side-eyed there too.
There've been news stories about lawsuits over it now and then, and plenty of employers won't hire you if you have one.
That depends on the country too.
Some places will let you have tattoos whether you're a supermarket clerk or white-collar.
I think lumping it all together as 'overseas' is too broad.
I kind of get it for the US, but the class divide in their high schools is on another level.
Especially the elite boarding schools — even Gen Z kids there, guys and girls alike, have completely clean, zero-tattoo skin.
Could you handle that?
So you're saying Japan's actually worse off?
Even kids from normal families are getting tattoos like crazy now.
Even in ordinary countries overseas, tattoos are everywhere.
Also, tattoos are a form of self-harm, just like cutting — it's a sign something's wrong.
So really, it means those countries overseas are the sick ones.
They're desperate for recruits as it is.
Yeah, that way they can work delinquents to the bone and toss them aside when they're done.
Can't really be helped.
The US military's full of tattoos too.
Kanto area?
Seriously, there's been a lot of that lately…
Heisei, especially 2013 to 2019.
I call it the golden age.
Public order was good, and young people dressed in a calm, clean-cut way.
That was probably Japan's peak. Glad I got to spend my 20s back then.
Young people today are just tacky — bleached hair, tattoos, no class.
I'd say it's more the influence of Breaking Down (the amateur fight show) and hip-hop culture.
Plus all those TV shows about hostess-club girls and gang-adjacent types that have been popping up lately.
Re: #86
Probably both.
Post-COVID pent-up frustration just exploded.
Though to be fair, the population's shrinking too, so the number of violent crimes has actually gone down.
Only a tiny fraction of chīmā (street-racing gang kids) → have kids.
So logically speaking, it makes sense the delinquent population just keeps growing.
The police don't even bother clearing them out.
Wait, aren't those guys actual yakuza?
Well, it's a nation of law, so even antisocial types like that have human rights.
Of course, guys like that don't know the law well enough to actually exercise those rights much, but it's still a headache for everyone around them.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
In Japan, tattoos have long been associated with the punitive tattooing of the Edo period and the yakuza culture of the postwar era, and customs like banning tattooed customers from public baths and gyms stem from that same history. Because of this, the association “tattoo = antisocial” runs deep, and this thread proceeded on that same assumption. That said, National Police Agency statistics show a long-term decline in the number of juvenile arrests, so it’s worth noting that the perceived sense of “declining public order” doesn’t necessarily match the actual crime figures. The claim that “tattoos are normal overseas” also drew pushback, with posters noting that attitudes vary widely by country and social class — and some in the thread pointed out that lumping all of “overseas” together was too crude an argument. As for the cause, multiple theories were floated, from the spread of combat-sports and hip-hop culture to the influence of specific franchises, but no evidence-backed conclusion was reached.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Japan is finally done for as tattooed antisocial youth keep increasing. It used to have the safest streets in the world.”
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