Sad & Happy

The character 樂 has multiple meanings depending on the context. Commonly it means "happy/joy". When combined with other characters, it would then mean "music".


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A70113/high/bmepb429211.jpg

I don't know this young man's original intention when he picked what appears to be 喪 (sad/mourning) and 樂.

I could only assume he wanted "sad & happy", however this appears to be "dirge", or "funeral music".

"Stop Woman Flow"

Two months ago, a young man named "Chuck" posted his tattoo which supposedly to be his daughter's initials in Chinese in BMEzine's tattoo gallery.

However, his choice of characters was not the best, and his tattoo proudly indicating to everyone that he menstruates regularly.


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A61204/high/bmepb404816.jpg

Today while browsing through the tattoo gallery, another young man is boasting his own (Dec. 4, 2006).

止女流 means "stop woman flow".

Is this some type of viral advertisement for feminine hygiene products? Perhaps I should forward it to my good friend, Steve Hall, at Adrants.com.

Seeking Tattooed Participants for Portrait Book

Two weeks ago I was contacted by Professor Kip Fulbeck of University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) about a tattoo portrait book project.

For those who are interested, here are the details:

SEEKING TATTOOED PARTICIPANTS

We are looking for individuals who may have had incorrectly translated (or applied) Chinese calligraphy tattoos for our upcoming book Permanence: Tattoo Portraits by Kip Fulbeck to be published by Chronicle Books in 2008.

If you are in the Southern CA area and are interested in being photographed for the book please email to



Anyone with interesting or unusual (by subject, style, or just plain bad) tattoo work is also welcome to contact us. Please note: We have PLENTY of tribal, Japanese sleeves, lower back butterflies, kanji, mid-scapula crosses, and mother's names already.

CNBC - Game On

On Nov. 15, 2006, CNBC aired a special titled "Game On" talking about the history of video games and its $25 billion financial impact.

During the show, an American businessman was quoted "I was told the only Japanese I needed to know was 百万台, which meant 1,000,000 units." At the same time, CNBC showed 百万台 on the television screen with last two characters upside down.


video: 917 KB Windows Media (thanks to Yang Zongbao)

Miami Ink - Weathering the Storm

Reader Wendy has tipped me about an episode of Miami Ink broadcasted earlier this year titled “Weathering the Storm”.


video: 16 MB Windows Media, mirror

In the show, a young lady wanted a “Japanese sign of Happiness or Inner Peace”, but what she and her friend downloaded from the internet was incorrect.

Chris Nunez then chimes in: “I think the single biggest crime is that there are so many tattoos on people either totally fake or doesn’t mean what they are looking for.” He then went on about how great it is to have Yojiro "Yoji" Harada in the shop to keep a watchful eye on fraudulent Kanji clients bring in.

Oh really?

Here is a screen shot of Kanji book in Miami Ink, and how come Yoji never spotted this?



時 by itself alone is not “stylish”, it means “time, season; era, age, period”.

Chuck's Tattoos

* Photo removed on behalf of Chuck Smith's request *
* The original photo can be found in BMEzine.com *

Chuck posted a photo of his tattoos in BMEzine's gallery on Nov. 6.

My Daughters Name In Chinesse
(Dragon Done By Ron At Stormi Steele; Lettering Done By Scott, Stormi Steele, Kingston, Pa)

It looks like Chuck got suckered into believing English alphabet can be translated directly into Chinese characters. Or, perhaps his daughter's name is really 女康流, which means "woman healthy flow".

"It means 'Eternity'"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A61023/high/bmepb379272.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A61023/high/bmepb379271.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A61023/high/bmepb379270.jpg

These three photos were posted in BMEzine's Kanji tattoo gallery on Oct. 30, 2006, with the caption of:

It Means "Eternity". Muster Said. I Don't Know Exactly, But Any Way. Whatever.
(by Sheremetyev, Golden Dragon, Omsk, Russia)

Since all three of the photos had date stamp on them and they appeared correctly, it was clear that the character been tattooed was mirrored. Also, the character 選 does not mean "eternity", it means "[to] choose" or "select".