Tattoos have long been linked to crime in Japan.
Members of the Yakuza organised crime gangs typically have intricate imagery inked across their entire bodies.
Tattoos are also banned on beaches and in public baths in the country. But one of the leading practitioners of the art says it is time tattoos lost their criminal link and began to be viewed as an integral part of Japanese culture.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett reports from Yokohoma.
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