Japan to consider allowing tattooed youths to join SDF

 which are generally considered taboo in Japan.

Funny thing, just like so many other "unwritten laws" here, there are NO laws against them, just "tradition".

So they have to create a law that allows something that isnt illegal in the first place. Oh so Japanese!

Necessity for the labor of all the discrimated people, not respect for basic human rights will bring this country to the 21st century step by step.

More likely the reason is not to let them "join" but to make them fully eligible if there is a draft.

Old people, the ones who care about this, seem to listen to all kinds of trite warnings and messages on TV, so why not have a brief campaign telling them that tattoos are only rarely associated with crime gangs. This whole fallacy could be put to bed inside a month.

the need to study removing such a ban to secure much-needed personnel.

So, again we see Japan changing it's 'traditions' for convenience or profit.

This whole stigma about tattoos is absurdly ridiculous. Of course, it's the association with the yakuza that created the stigma but a girl with a butterfly tattooed on her butt could hardly be considered a hard core gangster. The irony is, there are many hard core gangsters who do not have tattoos and are walking amongst Japanese people every day.

The idea of getting a tattoo is purely a phony copy and paste low self-esteem boost by mimicking some other low self-esteem or weak "follow me" celebrity. Hopefully most of the young adults won't fall for it.

With Japan facing a growingly severe security environment amid issues such as China's rapid military buildup and North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, the government has repeatedly emphasized securing enough SDF members.

Tatoo won't interfering solder, airmen, marines or sailor to combat Chinese and North Korean in the first place, so why banning from the beginning. It's only just because tradition?

Kind of funny to complain about the copy pastiness of tattoos in a country where all expressions of individuality is institutionally sucked out of people and we are left with the scenes at entrance ceremonies of corps. Time for this discriminative and objectively stupid "tradition" to die.

Last recruitment period only can get less half from target, where real target was around 9200 new personnel. Overall figure SDF was short 23 thousands personnel. So what next after tattoo policy, they will recruit someone with prior?

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Defense/Japan-s-Self-Defense-Forces-miss-recruiting-target-by-more-than-half

Japan needs to grow up. Tattoos. Big deal.

Indeed, canon fodder will be needed for the upcoming war. But since the situation is so dire, this is only the start. Won't be long before they allow those of South American heritage to join, and when the war gets underway, they'll open it up to those with PR and then eventually foreign mercenaries.

This is one consequence of having a nation of geriatrics.

*”Japan needs to grow up. Tattoos. Big deal.”*

Exactly, how about gyms finally allowing people with a tattoo too...its only 2023.

I still come across signs in public baths and gyms saying customers with tattoos are not welcome.

Then again, I still see signs proudly hanging outside bars that say "no foreigners" in English and Russian.

Maybe instead of making a "law" for something that isn't illegal, make a "law" against discrimination.

 expressions of individuality is institutionally sucked out of people 

I'm confused here.

Are you saying getting a tattoo is an "expressions of individuality"? LOL

Maybe in a self-obsessed "TV/smartphone" world. Or just maybe, most young college educated Japanese adults recognize the total phoniness of this "look at me" obsession and don't play along. thank god.

What if its a tattoo of an F-14 with

High

Way

To

The

DANGER ZONE!

written underneath it? I'd definitely let that person in.

The main reason why the SDF is facing a personnel shortage has little to do with the falling birth rate. Young people shy away from the SDF because the pay is too low compared to other sectors. Part of the increased defense budget should be spent on increasing salaries.

Necessity for the labor of all the discrimated people, not respect for basic human rights will bring this country to the 21st century step by step.

Imagine thinking narcissists are discriminated against anywhere in the world.

Tattoos are extremely ugly on anyone, but my fellow whites take the cake. Back in the day we called them Trailor Trash.

How ironic that the only way to truly stand out these days is NOT to have one.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/259666/survey-on-the-number-of-tattoos

I don't have tattoos nor do I plan to get one. But I wouldn't make broad social policies based on my personal taste on the matter. I think that should be easy to grasp as a voting member of a democratic society.

Who really cares? Although I don’t like tattoos, but if they need it for self confidence or to bring a message, so be it. Others go on demonstrations and hold flags or posters, again others write a book or draw a painting to express anything. It’s not so significant to discuss it endlessly for aeons, we have plenty of other problem catalogs to solve.

As commented above pay could be a big factor . I was surprised a month or 2 ago, when a SDF guy was found to have not been paying for his daily meals in the base canteen. S

Also we cannot get personal doe the SDF but we are in the process of spending an unbelievable amount of cash on weapons. Will there be enough people to use them or will they just be left gathering dust?

Stinks of desperation, this announcement. Having tattoos doesn't affect a person's ability to do their job or defend their country. Humans have been getting tattoos since the dawn of time. Japan needs a reality check.

At least now we know what are the priorities, social change and accepting diversity have never been important enough to merit fundamental changes approved by the government, but if they come in the way of recruiting young people to the SDF then they become something essential that have to be deal with as quickly as possible.

Japan to consider allowing tattooed youths to join SDF

Yeah, because you don't want to be the VERY LAST country to have such a rule against tattoos........oh wait

The government will consider allowing tattooed youths to join the Japan Self-Defense Forces

Don't bend the knee to this ugly western fad. This trend will eventually dissappear in a few years.

Japan is such an analog country. Most people outside Japan think the country is so advanced. But the reality is sooooo different.

This move isn't so much about "letting them join" but rather "making them eligble" for when the draft comes. And it's coming.

The idea of getting a tattoo is purely a phony copy and paste low self-esteem boost by mimicking some other low self-esteem or weak "follow me" celebrity. Hopefully most of the young adults won't fall for it.

Dude you have no idea about anything about tattoos.

You’re preventing young people from volunteering for the military because of a tattoo?!

The idea of getting a tattoo is purely a phony copy and paste low self-esteem boost by mimicking some other low self-esteem or weak "follow me" celebrity. Hopefully most of the young adults won't fall for it.

Dude you have no idea about anything about tattoos.

Except for missing the narccissim factor, hes right over the target.

Also we cannot get personal doe the SDF but we are in the process of spending an unbelievable amount of cash on weapons. Will there be enough people to use them or will they just be left gathering dust?

That's what the majority of weapons have been doing for the past decades. In the mean time the arms sales profiteers have been living it up.

pirates, bikers, yakuza and wannabes will be thrilled with this news

"Japan is such an analog country"

For some, including myself, that is a thing to be devoutly wished (longing for the 60s)

Japan is such an analog country. Most people outside Japan think the country is so advanced. But the reality is sooooo different.

sooooo true.

They cannot bath with the other non-tattooed cadets.

So the SDF will allow all young men with tattoos to enlist? How many young, Japanese men have tattoos? At the very most this is going to add only a handful of people to the ranks.

When I was a kid, it was mainly the dudes in the military who had the tattoos. They were the rough and ready guys you wanted fighting for you. I can't believe Japan's had this restriction in the first place.

JSDF should adopt the same tattoo rules as the US. No tattoos on your wrists / hands, neck, or face. Otherwise no problem.

Don’t really like tattoos and would never choose to have one but I can not see how choosing to have a little ink injected under your skin makes you unfit to volunteer to fight to defend your country?

Tattoos should not be taboo. The Maoris and other Polynesians, tattooed from head to foot, were fierce warriors and formidable fighters. Of course, swastikas and SS runes are another matter and every military and police force must always be on the alert to weed out recruits that wear their fascist insignia invisibly in their psychopathic minds.

Among the military age population, the number of candidates who are physically, mentally and emotionally capable of serving AND who are willing to consider a career in the JSDF (almost no one joins for a set enlistment term and then goes on to something else as in the US) is so limited in relation to the manpower needs that the JSDF just can no longer disqualify candidates based on tattoos.

It really is that simple. They need every qualified candidate they can get.

u_s__reamer

Today 07:16 pm JST

Tattoos should not be taboo. The Maoris and other Polynesians, tattooed from head to foot, were fierce warriors and formidable fighters. Of course, swastikas and SS runes are another matter and every military and police force must always be on the alert to weed out recruits that wear their fascist insignia invisibly in their psychopathic minds

Will there be a tattoo approval board to examine each tattoo? What if the runes originally meant something else? What if the "swastika" is backwards (and a religious symbol) but shows forwards in the mirrors? What if people are offended by a cross as well (crusades killed many people and Jews as well)?

divinda

Today 06:58 am JST

More likely the reason is not to let them "join" but to make them fully eligible if there is a draft.

My understanding is that the SDF cannot have a draft as it is not a military, and the members are merely classified as special civil servants. As such, you cannot draft a registry clerk any more than you can draft an SDF member.

Remove the tattoos and you can join the SDF.

Problem solved.

My understanding is that the SDF cannot have a draft as it is not a military, and the members are merely classified as special civil servants.

Sure, like Japanese Buddhists called wild boar "mountain whales" since they were allowed by their religious taboo on meat to make exceptions for "fish". Giving an entity another name, putting old wine in new bottles is an ancient Japanese ruse, but if it marches like an army, and gives and takes orders like an army, it's an army by any other name.

The Maoris and other Polynesians, tattooed from head to foot, were fierce warriors and formidable fighters.

Japan also has a long and rich history of tattoos that are widely admired as an art form all over the world.

Stinks of desperation, this announcement. Having tattoos doesn't affect a person's ability to do their job or defend their country. Humans have been getting tattoos since the dawn of time. Japan needs a reality check.

I'd be blunt about this - they've also been drugging themselves (alcohol being a favorite) "since the dawn of time". It isn't a positive, and the only reason we keep alcohol around is because we'd have to disqualify too many people if we blocked that. Anyone that tattoos himself is objectively engaging in self-mutilation. (I'm also glad I'm not a woman, so no one would be expecting me to put two holes in my ears), which suggests a certain mental deviation. Art goes on paper (or better yet, computers) - skin is too precious to be used that way.

englisc aspyrgendJune 5  07:00 pm JST

Don’t really like tattoos and would never choose to have one but I can not see how choosing to have a little ink injected under your skin makes you unfit to volunteer to fight to defend your country?

Best ask the British Army.

"Tattoos on the hand and the back of the neck are now OK. Most soldiers, however, keep their saluting hand clean out of respect. Tattoos on the head and face are unacceptable."

https://jobs.army.mod.uk/how-to-join/can-i-apply/tattoos-and-piercings/