Hey, it takes some self-control to sit there and get the tattoo done!
Your body, your business, I say.
Why not go to a high school or local college and talk to a Japanese teacher? I think it would serve you well to take your time and get it exactly right.
I really wonder how one would react.
“Hello, I’m a complete stranger, but I wonder if you would care to take the time to instruct me in the correct spelling and caligraphy of these words I’m going to have permanently inscribed onto my body - and yes, I know that in your culture tatoos are considered the mark of gangsters and other anti-social low-life”.
This was funny and cruel (if it’s true). Link is to an account of a prank on someone with a asian symbol tattoo:
Prank the Monkey: The ZUG Book of Pranks - Kindle edition by Hargrave, Sir John, Al Natanagara, Al Natanagara. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while...
Autolycus:
If you are getting what you want, I dont think you need to give a damn what other people think. Unless you plan on working in Japan, in which case people will think you’re a yakuza :eek:
I speak good Japanese, but I’m not quite sure of the natural word for “self control.” My dictionary said it was ‘jisei’, or these kanji （自制） However, it also listed 克己, kokki.
Aaaaah!! Wait, scratch all the above. I just remembered the perfect word.
Quoting the dictionary here:
“gaman
It can mean all of those things depending on the context, although I think the first meanings are most prevalent.
It looks fairly nice IMO: 我慢 larger size 我慢
It will also be understood by every Japanese person, and not mocked for meaning something completely stupid or wrong. I’m not sure how the culture would view such a tattoo, but hey, you’re doing this for yourself and not for other people right?
That first character is the first person pronoun in Chinese and the second means “slow.” So, in Chinese, this would read roughly as “I am slow.” Maybe not the best choice.
