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Some 126 workers for a city in Japan could reportedly lose their jobs because they have tattoos.
Authorities in Osaka are considering asking employees who have tattoos to have them removed or look for another job, The Guardian newspaper reported.
"Some workplaces may tolerate tattoos, but that shouldn't be the case for public servants," the city’s mayor Toru Hashimoto reportedly said. "If they insist on having tattoos, they had better leave the city office and go and work in the private sector."
Tattoos in Japan are sometimes associated with membership of Mafia-style criminal gangs called yakuza.
The Guardian said some large companies in Japan have already banned workers from having tattoos.
Authorities in Osaka are considering what to do after carrying out a survey of the city’s 30,000 employees, the paper reported. Staff were asked whether they had tattoos – either visible or normally concealed by clothing – and how long they had had them for. About 800 people refused to respond to the survey.
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Leave a Comment:
Umm...yea okay...
As an Employer, I would not hire someone covered with tatoos. Especially those having a tear drop below the eye or appearing to be gang related. They same rule applies to multiple peircings. They may be a good worker but I don't want the business of the Clientel they may attract. Let my competition deal with the possible problems by hiring these people.
Segregation comes in many forms. Japan cannot afford to be picky with the types of service workers they hire. If you force people to work in a "black market", then they will. Prohibition will always create a new market, even if it's illegal.
Employers in America should take the same stance.
NIC DANGER: Apparently many of the people in danger of being replaced are trash collectors (for residential trash). It seems very unlikely that an "illegal market" in residential trash collection would develop, even if every last person (viz. all 126, according to the article) in danger of losing a job were a trash collector. The possible ban concerns civil servants.
What made this story newsworthy in Japan is that the long-standing prohibitions against tattoos in Japan have been disappearing over the last 20 or so years: I recall seeing "No tattoos" signs in many places (e.g., hotels, beaches, and public baths) in the past that are no longer in place; meanwhile, tattoos not associated with organized crime have become far more popular and visible.
I believe if God wanted me to have a tattoo he or she would of given me one, otherwise, I'll have to accept the scars of life to continue my job. What's so wonderful about a bunch of ink on your arms, other parts of body to view? I know I am going to get a job now, since employers are firing tattoo people.
and they don't have riots about this policy?
I wouldn't hire anyone who had tattoo's i was aware of, piercings other than womens ears or males who wear their pants half way down their ass.
Tattoos displayed by now days are in poor tast and very trashy. Fire the bastages.
Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:28
Tattoos are on the people who didn't get the word of the Lord!