I have a lot of scars on my forearms that are faded but only noticable if up close, not at a glance from afar. if I were to wear short sleeves what kind of reactions should I expect from the public aswell and rules on public spaces? is it the same as tatoos? any difference to the UK for example?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/15vhem7/rules_on_scars_in_onsen_and_gyms_in_japan/
8 comments
There are no rules about the scars in Japanese culture. But they, like anyone anywhere, may react with shock and/or fear. “a lot of scars” doesn’t tell us anything except it is more than one and probably more than two.
How do people in your world react to you? Expect the same, except more of it.
There are zero rules on scars. The tattoo taboo exists because they’re associated with the yakuza or just criminals in general. But even that is slowly changing. Don’t worry at all about scars
If they are scars from self-harm, expect the same reactions as you might get anywhere.
There are certainly no laws or rules against having scars.
No need to worries. It’s definitely different from tattoos
Nobody will say anything about your body in an onsen. It’s an unwritten rule. A really fat person, a person missing an arm, a person who looks drunk or whatever, you just look away.
I don’t think anyone looks at each other enough to even notice scars. They notice you’re not Japanese and that’s that. Unless it’s a tattoo, no one cares.
I have keloid scars all over my chest. Nobody at an onsen has ever said anything. Other places, yes, but not at an onsen.
Are your scars from tattoo removal? Even then, I don’t anyone is gonna care.
My foreigner friends with tattoos used to get into onsen that ban tattoos all the time, I would think it would be even less of a deal with scars since there’s no cultural association with those like body art