The Curious Case of the Criminal Tattooist. Japanese Criminal Law in Action

Abstract

This short comment describes and critiques the recent decision of the Ōsaka District Court against tattoo artist Taiki Masuda, convicted of conducting “medical practices” without a medical licence, contrary to section 17 of the Medical Practitioners’ Act 1948. The decision is an instructive – and unedifying – example of Japanese prosecutorial practice and judicial reasoning at work, which undermines many scholarly attempts to defend or rehabilitate the characteristic features of Japanese law and legal procedure, especially in the criminal sphere. Particularly, the decision exhibits a perverse construction of the statutory provision in question, a failure adequately to distinguish between positive law and merely administrative material, and an overall lack of juristic rigour. This comment goes on to locate the issue of Japanese tattooing—and the official harassment of it – in its social context, applauding the defendant Masuda’s defence of this counter-cultural practice.