Date: Saturday, September 20, 2025
Time: 11:00 – 17:00
Venue: Presentation Room (Maclay Memorial Hall), 6th Floor, Main Library, Building 18, Aoyama Gakuin University
Organizer：Marc Menish

Purpose:
Japan has an incredible culture of tattooing dating back over one thousand years. Unfortunately, this amazing artform has been appropriated by the criminal underworld, effectively relegating it to a “low” status in both art and cultural spheres. This academic symposium aims to reposition traditional Japanese tattoo art within a new framework—celebrating its distinctive imagery and well-established craft.

Participants:
Pascal Bagot
French journalist specializing in Japanese tattoo history and archival research. Author of The Tattoo Writer.

Jean C. González
Author of Waboripedia, a widely acclaimed book on traditional Japanese tattooing, with readers in over 45 countries.

Horimomo
Traditional Japanese tattoo artist who utilizes the tebori or, “hand-poke” method. He also creates his own needles and inks.

Manami Okazaki
Journalist, curator and author of the upcoming: The Japanese Tattoo. Fights and Fires are the Flowers of Edo.

Eric Shahan
Translator & author of Tattooing in Okinawa (Parts I and II) and Tattoos as Punishment.

Dominic Steavu
Associate Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.

*Marc Menish
Professor of Media Studies at Aoyama Gakuin University. Will be hosting the event.

※This symposium is supported by the Research Institute of Economic Research Aoyama Gakuin University.