I feel sorry for the person with the tattoo. I wonder how many people are running around with Kanji tattoos that mean something different than what they thought.

I once saw this funny commercial, dunno what it was for, that featured a tatoo shop doing kanji tattoos. At the end of the commercial, we see that the shop clerk is picking his characters from a restaurant menu :-)

Oops! How embarassing!

I have a Japanese friend who told me that he has seen many people with tattoos of strange combination of Chinese characters and although the meaning sometimes was weird, or even stupid he explanation of it was that the Chinese reading of the characters sounds like the person's name. GB

I got a tattoo off the boards at a tattoo shop a few years ago and I don't know what it means. I'm afraid to ask someone, too, because it's already on me! It's supposed to mean, "to serve, to work, to do" but it probably means "idiot" or something.

I remember reading somewhere recently that some macho movie star was being ridiculed by the Asian press because a Chinese character tattoo that he was wearing for a movie role actually said something like "crying girl" or something equally lame! :)

Oh, there was this one time when I thought I saw a friend of mine on the street, so I ran up behiind her and put my fingers together like a gun.I pressed the fingers against her back and said 'gimmee your money, bitch' and as she turned around, I realized that it wasn't my friend, and (of course), the girl was terrified.

I was so embarassed and apologized profusely. I'm lucky she didn't report it to the cops!

1) well, think of it this way: now you know what clothes to recommend to your friend to make him look hot.

2) beer in the middle of the day is fantabulous! my favourite is griffon pale ale, which is brewed in montréal.

by the bye, have you ever had san miguel beer? it's from the philippines, but i've never tried it before. there is one bar here in toronto that serves it, though. i want to go there!

3) there's an urban legend running around here in toronto about this white guy who got a tattoo with different kanji. he thought he was getting something that said something about his strength or his courage. so, he showed it to a bunch of chinese girls that he knew and they started laughing at him because the tattoo actually said, 'this boy will never be pretty.'

in any case, i'm not so sure that that person you saw didn't know what it meant. having 'timid person' tattooed on yourself shows a lot of self-awareness and it was probably intentional and symbolic of how that person wanted to overcome his timidity.

anyway, it's the easter weekend here in canada. i'm at my parents' house here in toronto. enjoy the remainder of your week and have a good weekend!

A couple of years ago a few people started to say hello to me in a very friendly way as I walked around town, to and from work. They clearly thought they knew me and as I always gave them a big smiling hello back there was no reason for them to think otherwise. Then one day, one of these people stopped and starting talking to me about something making it clear he thought I was someone else. I asked him who he thought I was and it turned out to not be me :) Apparently me and the person I was being mistaken for are identical looking. On several other occassions the same guy would start to say "hello" and then say "are you Bob or Steve?" Depending on the day I'd say Bob and he's have a short chat with me. Then I'd tell him I was actually Steve and then when I'd convince him of that, I'd say I was just kidding and it was actually Bob talking to him. Like I say, that was a couple of years ago and then just last week at my sports clinic (which I hadn't been to in a year or so), the receptionist said, "hello Bob!" I had to show her my licence to prove to her I was Steve.

Sadly the guy who kept mistaking me for someone else wasn't very cute so I couldn't try to fool him with my pants off.

I have had the chat with several Chinse friends--all whom have had, at one time or another, non-Chinese speakers ask them to "write" a tattoo word for them -- and we agreed that it would be so COOL to have them write one thing ("Kick Me!") but tell the person it meant something else ("Warrior!") :)

Long weekend begins in Canada today. So let me say have a fantabulous weekend to yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I have a kanji tattoo: inochi!

There's a website, which I'm too lazy to look up right now, all about bad chinese tattoos. I think it's www.hanzismatter.com. Or something like that...

It's quite funny.

*smooch*

I had a katakana tattoo 4 years ago and was worried that what I wanted....... would not be what I got, eg. chickenshit. So, I did some research on it beforehand to make sure. It's the name of the place where I was born and where my fondest memories in life took place.

Have a great week-end. It's Good Friday tomorrow in Canada. Catholicism is in the minority I think but their holidays rule! :-D

Hi Cesar,

Well, he got it by his choise, and I assume he wasn't forced to get it :-) I so wonder about that, too. I guess someone has to do the research on that one. :-) You have a great weekend!

Hi Aro,

Wow, so the kanji tattoos you could get from that tattoo parlor are all about food? That's funny. It would be ridiculously funny if someone has "Fish Sauce" on his arm. :-) You have a great weekend!

Hi GayBoyDiary,

Well, I guess it's okay to have them as long as they are okay with them. But the most embarrassing one is invalid Kanjji tattoo that doesn't really exist in the dictionary or the kanji that was flipped over. :-) YOu have a great weekend!

Oh, You changed your name to Goblinbox? :-)

You know I have never been to one of those tattoos places before but they have some kind of smaples on the baord? Interesting. Well, if you take a photo and share it on your blog, that would be great. I am sure it's not that bad. :-) You have a great weekend!

Hi Hanuman,

hahahaha. That's a good one. I wonder why he is okay with that tattoo. I mean "Crying girl" hahaha. that would be hilarious and embarassing at the same time. :-) You have a great weekend!

Hi Fashmagslag,

Wow, you did that? I feel better after reading your experience. :-) I am glad she wasn't pissed or reported to the police. Otherwise, you would have had to spend in the jail for a night or two... You have a great weekend!

Hi Raph,

Thanks for the great feedback. :-) I didn't know San Miguel beer was from the philippines... I had San Miguel as default quite a lot when I lived in Hong Kong. It was good but I am sticking with domestic beers when I am here. :-) Well, I am not sure if it was intentional but even if it was, I guess it's not cool at all. How the way it's spelled out in Kanji. Really. :-) I am glad y ou are having a longer weekend! That's good for you! You have a fantabulous weekend!

Hi Steven,

I wonder how identical you two... :-) It's really freaky that some didn't really know you weren't Bob. What a player you are. I am abosolutely sure that the way you speak (how you deliver words and voice tone) is not identical but yet, they thought you were Bob. Funny. Really? I have never been asked by anyone to write a tattoo word at all.... Though I have been asked many times to spell their names in Kanji. That could be annoying some time.... That's great that you get an extended weekend over there in Canada. You have a fantabulous weekend!

Hi Enviroboi,

I didn't even know you had a tattoo on you. "Life" ? eh? I wonder how painful it would be to get tattooed. It's interesting that there are so many interesting Kanji tattoos. hahaha. You have a great weekend!

Hi Maggie,

That's a good move, Maggie that you researched on it prior to it. :-) Whew. I've never thought of getting tattooed on myself because I am too chicken to do so. :-) You know I should take an afternoon off right now as I used to be a catholic but well... I am working here... You have a great weekend!

while i think that kanji is lovely and all, i would never get something tattooed on me that i couldn't understand. you just never know when someone is going to play a nasty trick. and tattoo is a tad permanent if you can't afford the laser treatements to get it zapped away.

Oh.My.

#1 is quite embarassing. It happened to me once. I think my face turned extremely red when I found out the guy I just tapped in the back is not the one expected. And then he gave me this weird look too. That weird look is only accompanied by silence, but deep inside he might be thinking, "who the hell is this faggot?"

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