Japanese Kanji Tattoo Question

I saw a similar question in the discussion post about getting a tattoo for seizonsha (survivor) in Kanji.
The reason I was thinking of using this is because I am a cancer survivor. Would this be an acceptable use? If not, are there any other words of phrases that you would suggest that would fit better. Thanks!

I've read that thread (and I think I may have participated in it). Some posters seem to get the wrong idea that ''seizonsha'' simply does not fit the ''context'' but that is not the case. The word ''seizonsha'' simply is too un-poetic to be used as a tattoo design.

For example, in the movie Gran Torino, a stupid gangster has a big kanji tattoo across his chest in which he apparently does not know the meaning of. The kanji is 家庭 and if you look it up on a dictionary, you will see that it means ''family''. But that's just a dictionary meaning, and the true nuance of the word is more like ''household''. Now, who would tattoo ''household'' across his chest? It's that kind of a deal. Many posters have tried to explain these things on the ''survivor'' thread, but it doesn't seem to get through to some of the viewers.

I'm glad you survived cancer, though. Why not just tattoo ''SURVIVOR'' in English? That would make you look handsome.

I'm glad you survived cancer!

I'm pretty sure Uco was being sarcastic, but DON'T get the word "survivor" in English tattooed on you. An alternative would be to find some sort of imagery that represents the feelings you want to convey. I find that tattoos that represent and idea or memory are profoundly more interesting and meaningful than the words themselves.

Besides, if you live in America it is all too common to see white people walking around with kanji tattoos or some other Asian lettering tattooed on them. It's just not unique anymore.

Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic when I wrote the OP should get the word tattooed in English, but I suppose Bradshjw has a point.

It just shows how you can never judge a foreign word correctly. To me, "seizonsha" would look truly odd as a tattoo, but I had thought that "survivor" would be okay, of course keeping in mind that the OP seemed to want to have a word of that meaning tattooed on.

Anyway, I like the English word "survivor" a lot and repeat it in my mind whenever I need some cheering up, but not "seizonsha". Btw, and equivalent of "survivor" in the sense of "I am a suvivor of cancer" would probably be 勝った which means "won" but still, the design would look odd as a tattoo.

A friend of mine had the same problem. We couldn't really translate into kanji the meaning that he wanted, so he just chose some kanji that had meaning for him. Someone who reads Japanese it will have no meaning (except baka gaijin with kanji tattoo), but to him....every time he sees the tattoo he remembers a good friend that past away.
To Americans, Kanji is very beautiful and makes a cool tattoo, but most people wouldn't get a tattoo with one word in English, most would think it's strange, just like Japanese think it's strange to get a kanji tattoo.
But it's you body, get what you want. Whatever has meaning for you. (either Kanji, english, or a picture) But just make sure if you get a kanji tattoo you get someone you trust to translate into kanji. So you don't have a tattoo that say's "kick me" or something. :)