Tattoos and the Japanese Bathhouse

At the entrance to about every onsen (mineral-water bath) in Japan there is a sign that, loosely translated, reads, "People with tattoos will be refused service."

It has never occurred to any Japanese that I have talked to that this sign — which is in direct conflict with the Japanese Constitution — is discriminatory. They are, in fact, nonplussed when I tell them that such a sign would result in a lawsuit in the United States, in which the plaintiff would likely reap punitive damages in the millions.

America's litigious society is the very reason it appears out of control to many in Japan. But the United States is a country flooded with people of different races and cultural backgrounds who must rely on the letter of the law to get along. This stands in contrast to Japan's group consciousness, wherein everyone, even yakuza (members of organized crime syndicates) knows his or her place in the order of things.

The reasoning behind the sign is that to normal Japanese — the kind who commute to school or work, pay taxes and try to get through the day without annoying others — a tattoo of a carp or flaming Buddha is a mark of a yakuza. And yakuza, who make a living from extortion, trafficking in women, drugs, sundry shady deals and general thuggery, make socially responsible Japanese a little nervous. Naturally, this makes it tough to steam away worries by sitting naked in a tub of hot water next to a complete stranger.

When I have discussed with Japanese the irony of a blatantly discriminatory sign in a democratic country, they eventually come around. But they always add that, well, maybe discrimination in this case isn't such a bad thing because it contributes to society's harmony, which is more important to everyone than the civil liberties of a yakuza who wants to visit an onsen.

Traditionally, within the Japanese culture, what is important is that everyone knows his or her place and stays there, preserving society's equilibrium. American individualism, which many Japanese people admire but find difficult to embrace, is all about walking into a public bath and showing off your carp tattoo.

American-style democracy, which was imposed on the Japanese at the end of the war by General Douglas MacArthur, has shallow roots here. Though some of his efforts are to be applauded in the areas of education, women's rights and land reform, in other areas his attempts failed. The zaibatsu, the wartime military-industrial complex he wanted to do away with, still exists in the form of industrial groups, such as the Mitsubishi or Mitsui group. In these groups, the majority share of a company's stocks is held by another company within the group, effectively eliminating demands from private shareholders.

The result is often humorous. Kirin Brewery is a member of the Mitsubishi Group. Once I attended a party at Mitsubishi Materials and was told by one of the employees that their boss had ordered them to drink only Kirin Beer.

Democratic values turned out to be a house of cards in the face of 2,000 years of Confucianism, in which men, the group and a seniority system are revered. They are, in fact, viewed as corrosive by many Japanese. A good example of this is America's gun culture, in which an individual has the right to own a gun, though the exercising of this right is damaging to society as a whole. How, they wonder, could the exercising of this individual right benefit society? Responsible people aren't so selfish.

When the courts do rule on discrimination cases, they are individual ones in which the decision has few ramifications for society. People will not be affected. David Aldwinckle, an American-born naturalized Japanese, was denied entry to his local bathhouse in Otaru, Hokkaido, because he was a foreigner. The presiding judge in the case, Keiichi Sakamoto, agreed that the bathhouse operator, by putting up a sign which read "Japanese Only," had been unreasonably discriminatory, but stated, too, that though Japan had signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in December 1995 "the city of Otaru does not have any obligation to institute ordinances to ban discrimination."

Apparently the Japanese Constitution doesn't apply either. It's rare to the point of nonexistance for existing law to be ruled unconstitutional. The very idea that a judge could throw society out of whack by changing the customs of a nation is difficult to fathom for the Japanese.

Maintaining the status quo is what's important. I haven't seen any yakuza at onsens where the sign is on display, which suggests that maybe they are just as concerned with a smoothly running society as the people who commute to Toyota Motor Co. or Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.

As society thumps along, change here occurs at a glacial pace, reached by consensus, not the crack of a gavel.

— James Roth (j dot roth dot mail at gmail dot com)