tattoo confirmation please!

hi all, I've finally booked an appointment to get my 'ai' tattoo done after 10 years of wanting! Could someone please give me confirmation that this image is the correct japanese Kanji for 'love' I want it to be perfect - obviously!

http://www.tinfinger.com/images/kanji_ai.gif

I've also found this one,

http://www.jhs.gjcs.k12.in.us/japanese/kewl%20kanji/Ai-love....

which looks slightly different to me? I'd ask my mum, but she's about 30 years out of practice reading Kanji!!

please help - thanks

Personally I like the first one better, and it looks correct. The second one looks sloppy. I wouldn't suggest that one.

Furan,

I would agree with the poster above: go for the first one. MS Mincho font wins every time!
And dont forget to post pictures here once you've had it done.

Furan,

The top one is text book print. The bottom one is artistic and soft (it's not sloppy at all, it's print anyway).

I prefer the bottom one if it's something you're going to put on your body, moreover if it's going to be the letter "love".

However, it is always best to have a tattoo artist who is reliable enough to JUDGE for himself the one that suits your body best.

Btw, MS-Mincho font always represents a spotless example of a letter, very handy to refer to when you're learning Japanese, but good Japanese caligraphy should have a "spot" or two to be artistic.

MS Mincho font wins every time!
Until now I always thought Dave to be sarcastic as I think the MS Mincho font not at all suitable for tattoos. I prefer calligraphy for that. Shows how you can misread posts ^_^;;

Oh, hey everyone thanks for your replies, I'm glad the image is correct at least! I'd been told in the past that there were variations, but I didn't have anyone around who was good enough at Japanese to show me the correct one! (including my Japanese mum!) I've trawled the net for images of 'ai', and I've pretty much figured that they're all basically the same, just in different fonts/handwriting.

Could you have a look at just one more for me please, I especially like the shape of this one, ignore the stroke numbers if you can, (though I am particularly concerned that it has the correct number of strokes) - this one shows 13, is that correct?

http://www.sonoo.com.br/Home_Kanji_Tattoo/Ai.gif

Is there a difference in style between the way the Chinese & Japanese draw the character? Some I see with the top stroke almost horintal, and then some (such as the link) make it look more pointy at the top (which I personally prefer)

I've still got a couple of weeks till my appointment, but obviously I'm gonna have this symbol on my skin forever, I just want to make sure I get it right hehe!