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05/15/2008
Book Review: Tattoo in Japan

With the recent release of Tattoo in Japan by German publishers Edition Reuss comes a stunning addition to body art libraries -- a photography book not only adding beauty to your coffee table, it's big enough to be your coffee table!

Tattoo in Japan takes you on an illustrative journey through the country, from the Kanto region's metropolises like Tokyo with its Harajuku Rockabilly kiddies to the fashion forward Amerikamura playground in Osaka, hitting Chubu and Kyoto along the way. Vibrant street scenes of punks with split tongues throwing up LA gang signs mingle with sober studio shots, like Horitoku and Horiyoshi III captured in mid tebori.

It is this striking contrast that distinguishes Tattoo in Japan from other books on Japanese tattooing: it shows the full spectrum of tattoo arts in the country, not just its traditional and marvelous body suits but also modern manifestations of new school styling as well as the influences of Americana, biomechanical and even tribal tattooing.

The 250 images captured by photographers Martin Hladik, John Harte, Geoff Johnson, Toshihiro Oshima range from classic portraiture to convention scenes to extreme tattoo close-ups. The large format of the book allows the viewer ...

Needled tries to present the very best of tattooing without mocking the bad. That is, unless you're a celeb who has the resources to find the best and pay for it. Then it's open season. But there are moments when I yearn to do the blog version of shaking someone silly and screaming What were you thinking?!

For example, I love BMEzine's Modblog, but when I see something like the Twinkies chestpiece tattoo and the comments saying how awesome it is, I just wanna vomit cream filling. Sometimes acceptance of all things in tattoos isn't a good thing. Sometimes you just have to call someone a dumbass.

Thankfully Vice mag's Aviva Yael and P.M. Chen have done this for me in their new book, No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever. [In fact, I was surprised BMEzine didn't get any props in the book as the tattoos featured are often straight from BME's most popular posts.]

You know the ones I'm talking about: the I'm Gonna Kill You Ray Romano tattoo, the Hitler portrait, and the

You'd think that a book named Home Made Tattoo Rules would get under the skin of us tattoo couture types, but the 96-page photographic collection by Thomas Jeppe is quite artful in its approach to self-poked work and the philosophy behind the scratching.

Unlike the precision graphic tattoos and painterly custom works featured on this site, the tattoos represented in the book are raw and crude but there's a soulfulness, a kind of charm that surrounds them making the book compelling.

The book melds today's popular tattoo obsession and DIY ethos in the images taken in Melbourne, Perth and Auckland in 2005 and 2006; however, home made tattoos are not a new phenomenon by far. In fact, I've heard many stories from tattooists -- including my husband -- about their first tattoos being hand-poked curiosity pieces when they were early teens. I've also been to a party or two where friends have hand-tapped markings, Borneo style, on each other spontaneously for kicks. They weren't perfect nor clean but they brought people together in a more intmate way than the sterile environment of the tattoo studio. I had fun watching from afar. I guess I'm just not that ...

With the assassination of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the death of 16 others, I put aside my scheduled post for today to focus on a topic related to the tragedy. While some reports allege that Islamic extremists are responsible, I want to stress the extremist, not the Muslim, aspect of the allegation.

In traveling around to various tattoo conventions, I've met a number of heavily tattooed Muslims; I've seen them bond with patriotic American bikers. Even right after September 11th, the NYC Tattoo Convention of 2002 had a booth where two Muslim men sold Arabic calligraphy flash sheets in a prime position booth, once again proving the show a multicultural utopia, or at least a place of acceptance. My point here is that tattooing has a way of uniting people who would not ordinarily share other interests.

To learn more and view the beauty of Arabic script on skin, check out the upcoming book by Clayton Patterson called Arabic Tattoos: Documenting the Cultural Skin Behind the Ink. The book should be released February 15th and can be preordered on Amazon.com.

To better understand the beauty and symbolism behind traditional Maori tattoo arts, check out Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tattoo a new book just released by Penguin NZ described as the closest to a 'complete' book on Moko.

The 240-page hardcover explores Ta Moko from pre-European times to the present day, even looking at how today's rock stars and celebs have popularized or even exploited Maori tattoos. The role and status of the tattooers themselves are discussed as well as gender issues.

Mau Moko is written by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku and Linda Waimarie Nikora with images by award-winning photographer Becky Nunes, commissioned especially for the book. You can see some of her gorgeous photos on her site.

In North America, the book will be available January 2008 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.

Revisited: A Tribute to Flash is a must-have art book for lovers of old school Americana as well as tattoo history buffs. It's a fabulous idea whereby Don Ed Hardy's classic Flash from the Past, filled with tattoo design sheets from old legends, is reinterpreted by today's artists.

Originally conceived by Steve Boltz and Bert Krak as a painting project, Revisited is now a hardbound collection of flash from over 90 international artists, including Chad Koeplinger, Steve Byrne, Daniel Destefano, Timothy Hoyer, and Amanda Toy, among many other great tattooists.

It's also a traveling group exhibit. The next show opens this Thursday, December 20th, in Los Angeles at Canvas LA from 8-11PM and runs until January 20th.

Buy the book on Revenant's online store.

Today is Black Friday in America when, after we gorge ourselves silly on Thanksgiving dinner, we work it off by stampeding malls and trampling old ladies who were too slow to pick up that last Wii. Behold. But Needled likes old ladies. So, today, we're offering a list of online shops where you can buy tattoo goodies from the safety of your home and in a proper manner befitting a tattooed über-consumer. Let the spending begin!

Books
Before I even hit Amazon, I check out what the Book Mistress has to offer. Her collection of tattoo books, including hard-to-find titles is the best online. I recently purchased the long out-of-print hardcover of George Burchett's Memoirs of a Tattooist, which turned out to be half the price of other rare book dealers.

The best thing about buying from the Book Mistress is that you're supporting a long-standing member of the tattoo community and the wonderful Tattoo Archive, whose online store of tattoo collectibles has been our shopping staple.

Babies
If all your friends are breeding like mine are, you have plenty of baby shopping to ...