Japanese tattoos are known for their full body styling, bold lines, historic patterns and traditional images. The technique for tattooing that developed in Japan used hand tools, and it wasn't until the mid 20th century that machines first came to Japanese tattooing.
The first time I saw a "real" Japanese tattoo
Going back to 1994
This photograph is from 1994. This picture was taken during the NTA convention "meet and greet." This meant it was a huge photo op for anyone with a certain amount of convention access. I shot close to 80 pictures in the space of about two hours, running around a giant ballroom full of tattooed people.
This was the first time I got to see or photograph traditional Japanese hand tattooing. I was struck immediately by the subtlety of some of the shading. There is a quality to it that you just don't see in Western tattooing.
The young man wearing the tattoo didn't speak any English, so I wasn't able to talk to him. You could tell by looking at his face as he turned slowly to be photographed by dozens of onlookers that he was very proud of his tattoo, and that he wished he could ask some questions of all of us too.