Ill never forget the dark night I spent wandering around an unassuming, completely residential neighborhood in Yokohama, in January 2001. I had no idea what to expect. Ended up getting hopelessly lost, found a Taxi, and gave him the address. Still remember it: 123 isa-cho Nishi-ku. I was told to never give cab drivers a business card from a Tattoo studio. They will likely refuse to take you there! This cab driver eventually had to call for directions. Japan is both incredibly efficient and well organised and also insanely vague and complicated at the same time. I was totally impressed -- this was still early on and expensive to use Cell Phones 14 years ago! Didnt know how to tip him for using his car phone. Japanese are classy people. They dont walk around throwing money at people in the service industry. Tipping is very uncommon. The legend himself, Horiyoshi III, met me outside! He greeted the taxi driver in Japanese and me in surprisingly good English. He was smoking a long cigarette, and immediately invited me into his tiny studio. There was no one else there. No assistant, apprentice, protege or interns. I was totally star struck and unable to speak anything intelligible. He was patient and asked what I wanted. I had envisioned walking into a bustling Japanese tattoo studio. Music playing, people getting tattooed, cool art work and photographs everywhere; maybe a tee shirt to buy. The intimacy caught me off guard. I was not at all able to tell him, Oh, hey, Im not from around here, as you can tell, mind if I have a look about, ok? Now deep down, I obviously wanted to get tattooed. I had recently gotten tattooed by his old friend, Ed Hardy -- another legend. I managed to roll up my sleeve and show him the Ed Hardy piece, which he looked at very closely and said, Special Tattoo. I agreed, saying getting tattooed by Ed Hardy was very special. I then borrowed his words and told him that getting tattooed by him (Horiyoshi-San) would be even more special. You want tattoo? He asked? I didnt have to answer. My eyes mustve just lit right up. Before he could ask how long I would be in Japan, he was already opening his appointment book! Im very lucky sometimes. Japan is the coolest place on earth. People like this man are reasons for that. Hope hes doing well. Looking forward to seeing you soon Horiyoshi-San!
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:15:22 +0000
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