"It seems like every two or three days we are doing a koi (carp) half-sleeve or a dragon tattoo. People in the States are going nuts for Japanese. It's really blown up over the last two years," says American tattoo artist Lewis Hess of Atlas Tattoo in Portland, Oregon.
A regular visitor to Japan, Hess is riding a wave of foreign interest that will wash hundreds of overseas tattoo artists and aficionados into Japan next week for Tattoo Summit — Japan's biggest such convention. Held in the city of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Tattoo Summit is a rare opportunity to observe both modern and traditional Japanese-style works side by side.
Working solely through word of mouth — with neither advertisements nor phone listings — traditional Japanese tattoo artists can be incredibly difficult to find. A perfect example is Horitoku, a master (horishi) who is considered one of the top artists in Japan and is spoken about with hushed reverence among other tattooists.