hear the army

I joined a Japanese Health Club! I’m excited but still nervous and thus, didn’t go today when I thought I really should.

I have spent all of last year wondering about what to do for exercise when my left knee is acting up. What I keep reading is go to a pool. Yet, I know if the pool is inconvenient to get to – I won’t be bothered. So, I went to the nearby health club to sign up but in big English letters on the top of the page it says NO TATTOOS. Trying to respect the rules I offered that indeed I did have a tattoo but I would keep it covered at all times except when I change my clothes in the locker room. They hemmed and hawed a bit, went in the back to pow-wow and returned to tell me that sorry, I might offend someone in the locker room. Foiled. I leave with the tail between my legs.

Now I can see how because tattoos are traditionally associated with Japanese gangsters (yakuza) they wouldn’t want to allow those people to join their health club; however, the yakuza tattoos are usually distinctive and usually on a Japanese person. Also, I am part of an online Japanese community called “Tattoo for girls” – this community you have to apply to be part of so they can confirm you are a girl – and they have 1063 members. Obviously the people with tattoos in Japan are far from being only the yakuza anymore. So why shouldn’t I be able to pay my money to attend a conveniently located, health club to get myself into better shape? Maybe I’m too American but I can’t get my head around it – I will happily not use their communal bath, wear a bathing suit that covers it, and wear shirts that cover it while I’m using the facility but to deny me access just because I have a mark on my body seems too unfair.

So, I bit the bullet and joined anyway. Possibly I will get kicked out and lose my money but it’s a risk I’m willing to take to try and get myself in shape again without further injury to my knee. Am I such a rebel for that?