Let’s see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully at examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you see difficulty translators had? The kanji for “dragon”, “samurai”, “love” or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!

Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way of Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.

4. Your name in Japanese

As I’m sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana are characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would be characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji.

Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so let’s look at them here.

Translating meaning

This method involves finding out original meaning of English name, and then researching kanji equivalent.

For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means “crowned one”. The one who is crowned is king, so I could translate my name into kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious – and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Laden’s first name!)

Translating sound

This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isn’t everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each of following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:

1. Sound – Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name “translated” on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually said same as Steven!

2. On-yomi and kun-yomi – Yes, more technical words! But don’t panic – they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi don’t mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to make sound of your name.

3. Meaning – Do kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.

4. Masculine or feminine – I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while “Asian Beauty” may be a great combination for a woman, I get feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!

5. If in doubt, check!

First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji “specialist”. If you get feeling they don’t know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere.

Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (like one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whether Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.

Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another “big daddy”!

Follow this advice and you will avoid most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of.

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And There's More Coupons!

Watch for coupons to save when dining out at your favorite restaurant, to get a free membership to gym, or even to save 25% off new clothes at mall boutiques. These are also found in Entertainment booklets, newspaper ads and printable online.

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