Be polite; turn off your cell phone and stop wandering eyes. There is nothing ruder than taking a casual call from a friend or ogling waitress at next table while your date is attempting to hold your attention.

Many people will have a different answer when you ask them their opinion on whether or not a kiss is acceptable on first date. Maybe all you want to do is hold hands or snuggle and save kiss for another date. It all depends on chemistry between you and whether or not it feels right. And if it does, then go for it. Of course, if date isn’t going well, feel free to end date early with everyone’s favorite backup “emergency” phone call from a friend. Chances are if you’re not having a good time, neither is your date!

Hopefully, this has broadened your outlook on world of “first dates”. The whole point of a first date is to figure out if you want to get to know person better. Remember, when it comes to dating and tips, just follow your instinct and no matter outcome, have fun, enjoy yourself, and relax.

Next, remember that there is often no such thing as an exact translation. Basic nouns are one thing – a table is a table is a table, after all. But abstract concepts, like Semper Fidelis (the motto of US Marine Corps), can be notoriously difficult to translate well.

Once you have grasped this background material, you are ready to meet with tattoo artist. That’s right – meet. Don’t get anything done yet. At first you just want to talk. Specifically, you want to find out how familiar he or she is with issues mentioned above. If after an hour or so on internet you know more about Japanese than your tattoo artist, then you need to be very careful about kanji she suggests.

So what can you do if your tattoo artist doesn’t know his kanji from his katakana? How do you go about getting kanji yourself?

Well if you are confident in your new-found kanji knowledge, then there are a number of online dictionaries such as this one http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict that can help.

Otherwise I would recommend getting a translation from a site like one I run - http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/ . A good translator will be able to offer you a number of different options as well as explaining exact meaning and pronunciation of different kanji. They should also be able to offer you a number of different styles, from basic kanji calligraphy fonts to genuine Japanese shodo calligraphy.

At end of day, how you decide to go about getting your kanji tattoo is up to you. Just remember that preparation is key to making sure your kanji tattoo doesn’t get “Lost in Translation”.