Japanese Tattoo as a White Foreigner

Having traveled to Japan last year, I had the opportunity to visit Shorinzan Darumaji in Takasaki. My friend who lives in the area was able to have me and my group paint our own daruma dolls, and learn about their history as well. Since then, I've been thinking about getting a small daruma tattoo, but I would love to hear opinions. I understand that tattoos in Japan in general may not be positively perceived anyway, and that I may also be seen as another "Japan-obsessed foreigner". I would consider myself to be an intermediate speaker of the language, and I know of the daruma's cultural and religious significance. However, if this is still something that would be disrespectful/wrong, please let me know.

�uI know of the daruma's cultural and religious significance...if this is still something that would be disrespectful/wrong, please let me know.�v
Though daruma have religious significance, I wouldn't say that the average Japanese person has a particularly deep reverence for them. For example, I've been to now fewer than three separate pubs named "Daruma," and the motif shows up even in capsule toys and cheap souvenir trinkets, since there's an undeniable silliness to their appearance. So you're unlikely to run into anyone who finds a daruma tattoo "disrespectful" or otherwise be offended by one.

�uI understand that tattoos in Japan in general may not be positively perceived anyway, and that I may also be seen as another "Japan-obsessed foreigner". �v
That's pretty much the long and the short of it. Most, though not all, people in Japan have a moderately negative opinion of tattoos, but also are aware that tattoos are seen as more fashionable in other cultures. However, if your tattoo is of something Japanese, like a daruma, it's unlikely to be seen as "Well, I guess maybe that's normal in foreign countries." So most Japanese people will probably see it as, at the very least, quirky, if not outright weird.

�uI would consider myself to be an intermediate speaker of the language�v
Being able to speak the language isn't likely to affect how people think about you having a daruma tattoo. The puzzled reactions it's likely to prompt aren't because people will think it's strange for someone to get a daruma tattoo without properly understanding what daruma are, but because it would be considered unusual for someone to have a daruma tattoo at all.

As for being a white foreigner, that's also unlikely to change people's thoughts about you having a daruma tattoo compared to if you were a non-Japanese foreigner of any other ethnicity.

may also be seen as another "Japan-obsessed foreigner".
just another "Japan-obsessed foreigner"

tattoos in Japan in general may not be positively perceived
something that would be disrespectful/wrong
and that do not stop people from doing it, they will argue that they are trying to show respect to the culture. so you do you, whatever you feel appropriate and come up with whatever excuse to satisfy your need/ego/self satisfaction etc.

TLDR, you do you ..

I would consider myself to be an intermediate speaker of the language, and I know of the daruma's cultural and religious significance.

Then you should be asking your question to Japanese locals you can trust, rather than to anonymous internet users like me. They would know you best, and they would know exactly what you're talking about. For example, you haven't even mentioned if you prefer to ink Daruma the person or Daruma the doll.

However, if this is still something that would be disrespectful/wrong, please let me know.

Whatever the tattoo, it wouldn't be disrespectful or wrong from an average Japanese perspective. But it could look dumb depending on the design/artist.

So, all in all, depending on the design, you'd either be seen as any human being with a good-looking tattoo, or you'd be tolerated as another dumb-looking foreigner. (But then, I can't really imagine a good-looking tattoo of a "small Daruma".)

As for risks, any person with a tattoo could be rejected from some public facilities in Japan such as baths, pools and beaches, and could be rejected by some local employments. This is because some managers fear that some people would be scared of those who wear tattoos, but this is becoming to be a myth.

By the way, I don't necessarily agree with the other posters.

I have a friend from the US, they have travelled with me before and visited for a three month stay before. They got a tattoo from a particular artist they found in Nakano (Tokyo), there was no problem/issue. The replies above are wide of the mark.
And BTW, many Japanese have tattoos, despite what people might think - it is not hard to see them every day.

I don't think my reply contradicts with JapanCustomTours's.

@Steven

It's cool if you want to get a tattoo that you understand, but the thing I don't get is why people go on a forum to try and get a tattoo in an entirely different language that they themselves don't even understand. At the end of the day, you do you, but you're planning on putting something permanent on your body in which you don't understand the context and you just see it as "cool".

I mean, you could get that tattoo if you really want to, but just remember that what is interesting to you and personal, others may not resonate with that, especially in a culture where tattoos are still not the norm and some places even still ban people from being in their establishment because of it.

I know that @japancustomtours explained that he notices more Japanese people with them, but that's still the exception to the rule. As a majority, most people don't have them and it's not really a thing even if someone does have a tattoo for people to comment on it like you'd see in the USA/Canada or other western countries. People in Japan still do associate tattoos with bad behavior unfortunately.

My personal take is, you look great the way that you're born. You would never put a bumper sticker on a rolls royce car, why put something permanent on your body?

@Tom, I would also observe that the majority of people in my home country also don't have tattoo - the exception rather than the rule. The point I was making is that while not "common" in Japan, tattoos are hardly rare.

It's true that recently fewer and fewer Japanese people strongly deny those with tattoos. However, this does not necessarily imply that people here now start to admire tattoos and tattooed people. Even if you display your Daruma tattoo in front of Japanese, the majority of reactions may simply be "Meh" or they might not say anything but silently wonder in their minds, "Why didn't anyone discourage him/her from getting such a tattoo?"
Few Japanese people here would say bad of you directly or mock you loudly in front of you, but there are still some (or many?) people who take those things too badly without saying anything. It might be like a tourist woman in a mini skirt walking down the street in a muslim country.

Being slightly different from your case, some foreigners think about how Japanese people would react to their tattoos with Japanese themes, and a part of them even expects positive reactions, as if the Japanese would admire foreigners with Japanese-themed tattoos so much. But I really don't understand why they do this. A tattoo is just a tattoo.
And we don't care about their race, either. Whether you are white, black, Asian, or another race, the reaction won't change much. "Oh, what a (interesting/stupid/horrible) tattoo," period.

It just dawned to me.

As far as I know, at least for centuries, tattoo throughout Japan has always been art.

On the other hand, in places like modern North America and Europe, there is (A) artistic tattoo, and then there is (B) the act of simply inking your body.

Japan doesn't have (B) yet. So, it's very hard for Japanese people like me to have someone show off something that looks like a scribble and say that it's cool.

That's why a lot of us on this forum question designs and fonts when an OP asks if something would be okay as a tattoo from a Japanese perspective. It's all about how artistic it looks. Race has nothing to do with it.

In Western Europe and probably the USA, if you're talking about the 20-35 age group, I'd be shocked if those with tattoos aren't the majority. It's ubiquitous in that age group and 99% of them are terrible.
It's much more fashion and peer pressure than art so it is a pleasant sight when you do see one that is genuinely artistically impressive.
Anyway, in Japan, even though tattoos exist outside the Yakuza, it is very rare compared to the Western population.