Hey everyone!
So I know this question has been asked 1000 times and honestly I’ve now accepted that there’s no way doing it without either a sponsored artist visa or being married to someone who’s Japanese (and I’m very happy with where I’m at now!) But it’s been a question that has always been on my mind and thought people could try to help me understand. (Having adhd and autism it’s been a question I’ve been very much highly fixated on with no answers as I’m genuinely curious with how people have done it!).
But I saw a tattoo artist named veronika who’s from America who recently moved to Tokyo as a tattoo artist. She seems to get asked a lot on how she did it but tells everyone it’s either impossible or its been legal since 2018 and you can get a visa to do it but in general seems to keep things very vague not exactly saying which visa. I remember trying to ask her that if it’s impossible then how has she done it as surely it can’t be completely impossible then? But I got no reply. I remember them also ranting and getting angry about guest tattoo artists coming over and tattooing in Japan and how it’s illegal- but again no one explains what the legal route is? (Guesting was something I thought about doing but again I can’t find any answers)
Apologises for the most generic question ever- thanks for reading!
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Getting a job in Japan as a tattoo artist?**
Hey everyone!
So I know this question has been asked 1000 times and honestly I’ve now accepted that there’s no way doing it without either a sponsored artist visa or being married to someone who’s Japanese (and I’m very happy with where I’m at now!) But it’s been a question that has always been on my mind and thought people could try to help me understand. (Having adhd and autism it’s been a question I’ve been very much highly fixated on with no answers as I’m genuinely curious with how people have done it!).
But I saw a tattoo artist named veronika who’s from America who recently moved to Tokyo as a tattoo artist. She seems to get asked a lot on how she did it but tells everyone it’s either impossible or its been legal since 2018 and you can get a visa to do it but in general seems to keep things very vague not exactly saying which visa. I remember trying to ask her that if it’s impossible then how has she done it as surely it can’t be completely impossible then? But I got no reply. I remember them also ranting and getting angry about guest tattoo artists coming over and tattooing in Japan and how it’s illegal- but again no one explains what the legal route is? (Guesting was something I thought about doing but again I can’t find any answers)
Apologises for the most generic question ever- thanks for reading!
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Outside of the legality of working as a tattoo artist (I have no idea about that), there are a number of ways for people to move to Japan and have the right to work. These include (but not limited to): marrying a Japanese national. Being a child of Japanese national. Working holiday visa. Student visa (with permission to work).
Here is the visa wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/wiki/visas/
In 2020 the supreme court ruled that you didn’t need a medical license to give someone a tattoo. [https://www.inkedmag.com/original-news/japan-legalizes-tattoos](https://www.inkedmag.com/original-news/japan-legalizes-tattoos)
Before that, you wouldn’t be able to get a visa to be a tattoo artist because without a medical license you couldn’t be a tattoo artist.
These days it would be a lot murkier. The ‘artist’ visa is meant for internationally known artists to come to Japan and put on shows or sell their art. I suppose that would mean that, if immigration were so inclined, an internationally renowned tattoo artist could get a visa to come to Japan and work a few commissions. That’s a big if though.
If you wanted to open your own tattoo parlour in Japan then you’d likely be looking more at the business manager side of things. You would need to have a professional business plan that demonstrates that there is a market for the service you’d be looking to provide and that you’ve got the skills & experience to provide that service. There are other things the business plan would need to include, and again you’d be fighting against institutional prejudices within immigration to pursue this path.
If you are in Japan on a status of residence that is not tied to employment (spouse of a Japanese national/permanent resident; Japanese parentage (up to 4th generation I believe); something else) then there would be nothing stopping you from opening your own shop.
if they’ve being evasive about it…
came as a tourist, on a student visa, on a spouse (married japanese person) or dependent (their non-japanese spouse is here on a work visa) visa. also it might be possible to get a short-term entertainment visa maybe?