Japan Convention October 2&3, 1999 By Ula of the Pain-Proof Rubber Girls Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Tokyo - land of the rising sun. The city where you can buy anything from a soda or beer to condoms and used panties in a vending machine on the street. You can golf on top of a high-rise, and ski indoors. Where innocent looking schoolgirls parade the streets in white shirts and blue pleated skirts with "loose socks" and loafers. All ages carry little miniature cell phones in a rainbow of colors. Young women show off indoor tans, bleached hair and blue contacts. Tokyo "b-boys" sporting Nike shoes get afro perms, businessmen rush around in three piece suits, and older ladies ride the subway in traditional kimonos. The city where a cup of coffee can cost you ten bucks. After a 13-hour plane ride and another hour on the train from the airport to our hotel in Shinjuku, this is the insanity in which we found ourselves - ready to bear witness to the first Tokyo Tattoo Convention. We arrived Friday evening, just in time for the opening night party at Club Odeon-a karioke bar. After a brief stop at the McDonald on the corner, we set out to find the place. (McDonalds in Japan is just like McDonalds in New York, except that it's pronounced Macu Donaldo and offers a Teriyaki Burger in addition to the regular menu). The club was only a 10-minute walk from the Hotel Sunroute where everyone was staying, but with over 300 clubs and bars in the Shinjuku area, it took us about an hour to find it. At the party we met a bunch of familiar faces such as Chris Garver - who had already scored a black eye from a little innocent wrestling with Running Bear. Towards the end of the evening loud cheering could be heard from the private kareoke rooms, where Running Bear sang his own original version of "Hotel California". and Lal Hardy wailed to the tunes of "Jail House Rock" and "God Save the Queen". It felt just like home only better, because it isn't customary to tip the bartender in Japan. Saturday morning we took a taxi with all the photo equipment to the meeting hall in Ebisu. Looking out at the street you would never guess this was the place world-famous for it's tattoo history. You won't see any tattoos in public here. Our small display of color drew a lot of attention from young children and nervous mothers. It was almost impossible to get the cute young schoolgirls to pose with us for a photo. Funny that a place with such a rich history of tattooing would be ashamed to exhibit it. For this reason the idea of a large, publicized tattoo event was very exiting. The Tokyo convention was hosted by Permanent Mark and Horiyoshi III, with Suishin Clothing as the sponsor. It was an invitation only affair. Ron Ackers, Danny Skuse, Bob Roberts, Bernie Luther, Hanky Panky, Tin Tin, Andrea Elston, Luke Atkinson, Baby Ray and Lucky Bastard are just a few of the famous artists in attendance. Filip Leu was also there, but impossible to see because he was constantly surrounded on all sides and from above, by the press, fans, and young hopefuls with cash on hand. The hall itself seemed very spacious. Everyone was able to work comfortably, with over two meters per booth. No curtains were hung as dividers, so everyone could see what the others were up to. Near the bar on one end of the hall, there was an art gallery with work from Horiyoshi III, Felix,Filip and Titine Leu, Luke Atkinson, Mick of Zurich, Skuse, Mauricio, Clay Decker, Kaname, Mike Wilson, Shadow, and Bernie Luther. Horiyoshi III sat for a good part of the day in the middle of the room, autographing copies of his book, One Hundred Demons. Convention t-shirts with designs by Bob Roberts and Horiyoshi III were for sale for $70 a piece. The hall was fairly crowded most of the weekend, with people gathered by the bar and sitting on the steps by the bar, all smoking cigarettes. It was a nice change from the uptight no public smoking rules of Los Angeles and New York. By the end of the day, a fog would settle on the room. There were no contests at this convention; it would have been impossible to pick a winner out of bodysuit after bodysuit passing by. It was not hard to tell that tattooing had been a part of this culture for over 2000 years. Members of different Japanese tattoo families could be seen socializing around the room, and observing the guest artists. From time to time one would do the honor of stripping for a photograph and you could see that he was covered from neck to foot. It was a very impressive sight. Permanent Mark explained, ".the thing about this (convention) and how it worked this time is that it was only American and European tattooers working, so then it was kind of a neutral territory for everybody so all the different families are here in one room just walkin' around, checking things out, and everybody's got their mutual respect.." The background music had to be as diverse as the crowd, and the DJ played music for everyone - ranging from Techno/Jungle to Stray Cats and rockabilly. All the younger people at the convention had not only Japanese style work on them, but also American style art, identifying them with their "posse". I saw bikers, punkers, rockabillys, Club Kids, Rappers and Ravers with everything from the Exploited mohawk skull to little butterflies and safe sex logos. Booths at this convention came free of charge; All of the tattoo artists agreed to give a percentage of their earnings to fund the Horiyoshi Tattoo museum in Yokohama, and the Tattoo museum of Amsterdam. It made for a general feeling of well being--Mark said that enough money had been made to pay rent on the museums for at least 6 months. Tattooing has been pretty much legal in Japan for the last 50 years since the American Occupation, but still remains unacceptable to the general public and is viewed as a form of rebellion. Historically it was only the peripheral members of society who were tattooed: Firemen, who were 'known to be rowdy', ginrikisha drivers, who would use the body ornamentation as a means of drawing attention to their coach, ex-cons were tattooed to cover up the tattoos they received as punishment for a crime, but the average person would not get tattooed. Now, with the new global upsurge in tattooing and body modification, all that is changing. Even taboo is not enough to stop the tradition-based yet trend-hungry country of Japan from going with the flow. The weekend came to a close with a party at Club M on Sunday night. Everyone seemed happy with the weekend's events and had different stories to tell about their adventures in the city. Mark mentioned he was hoping to bring a bunch of Japanese artists to America as an exchange for letting us tattoo on their turf. He wouldn't say if there were any plans yet for a second Tokyo Convention, but this one was so successful, I would say a sequel is inevitable----start saving up now!!

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