The Osaka Municipal Board of Education said Thursday it has given a 23-year-old school clerk a one-month pay cut for having tattoos, making her the first city employee to be punished under the June 2012 ethics code revision against body art.
The woman had her left arm and ankle tattooed sometime between the end of December 2012 and the end of last March, the board said. The board decided to look into the matter after her school received an anonymous tip around last September.
The woman said she will have them removed surgically, the board said.
The revision to the ethics code bans city workers from getting new tattoos. The ban, aimed at bringing discipline to City Hall after a spate of scandals, was proposed by controversial Mayor Toru Hashimoto.