Rugby players will need to cover their tattoos ラグビー選手の入れ墨
No tattoo!
Japan will organize the next Rugby World Cup ™ which will take place from September 20 to November 2, 2019. On this occasion, many rugby players who love tattoos will discover that it is fashionable to hide them once on the archipelago. A request which was relayed by the international bodies of this sport.
The tattoo, the mark of the yakuza
In Japan, it is forbidden to enter most onsen if you have tattooed skin. It can be the same in sports halls or public baths. The reason is that tattoos are seen in Japan as an art bearing the mark of the yakuza , the local underworld. Indeed, members of the Japanese crime syndicate have a habit of tattooing themselves, with tattoos over the years that extend over the entire body. This practice is so characteristic that it has imposed itself in the Japanese collective imagination as a mark of belonging to the yakuza.
Read also : Tattoos in Japan
The type of tattoo worn by yakuza and banned in onsen Japan.
Jeff Laitila
Rugby institutions want to adapt
Rugby institutions have been running an awareness campaign on this issue for the various national teams for more than a year . And the players seem receptive. " When we broached [the issue] with the teams about a year ago, we expected a reaction of frustration from them, but that was not the case at all" said the Rugby World Cup ™ boss Alan Gilpin. He also explained that an awareness campaign among the Japanese living around the team facilities will be carried out. to explain that the latter are not members of the Mafia.
The teams, for their part, directly communicated their willingness to adapt to local sensitivities . Thus New Zealand, which has a number of players with Maori tattoos, will make sure to hide these marks, as team captain Nigel Cass indicates: "When one of our teams is on tour, we make sure to respect local customs and culture, and there will be no difference when we visit Japan this year and next year . "
Sonny Bill Williames, joueur des All-Blacks
Wikipedia
No imperative obligation will be attached to the players , but compliance with this constraint has been validated by all, and this already in previous years when national teams such as Italy, Ireland, Wales or Scotland were came to play in Japan.
