A black and gray Japanese tiger tattoo 虎のブラックアンドグレータトゥー

SOI, a good friend and tattooist at Gion Daruma Tattoo in Kyoto called us asking if he could send a customer our way. His studio was booked for the month and the client was on a tight schedule. Our home page and shop signs are still not quite finished, so we don’t have many new customers yet and our January schedule has openings. We were thrilled about the referral.

The customer’s taxi driver called and explained the situation. The customers were a newlywed couple from India. He was taking them around the Kyoto and Osaka area during their short stay. The husband wanted to get a tattoo of a Japanese-style tiger on his left shoulder, but they only had a couple hours free in their schedule. Despite the time constraints, we asked the driver to bring them to the studio.

Horihide 2 drew up a design and we waited for the customers to arrive. When the newlyweds showed up, I asked them about the two-hour time constraint and discovered the reason was to make time for Mrs. A to visit the Pokemon shop. Rather than go together, we worked things out so their driver would take her to visit the shop while her husband got tattooed. This gave Horihide 2 a bit more time to give the tattoo.

We showed them the designs. Mr. A loved the tiger. It was a perfect match for the dragon on his other shoulder (a tiger and dragon combination is called ryuko). Mr. A had a great collection of tattoos he had accumulated in his extensive travels around the world. During breaks, Mr. A and I chatted about his travels and mostly about India. Our conversation brought back memories of my trip to India.

Mrs. A returned from the Pokemon shop at just about the same time as her husband’s tattoo was finished. We were all happy with the way the tiger turned out. It will be a great souvenir from their trip to Japan. Thank you Horisoi for the referral! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. A. I hope you enjoyed your time in Japan and have a wonderful life together. The next time I visit India, I will definitely schedule a trip to Rajasthan to say “Hi.”

Jack Amano