baavgai: (kahn)
( Nov. 18th, 2005 03:12 pm)
Last week I mentioned Sony's bad idea, it's gotten better since then, Wired has a nice wrap up of the mess: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,69601,00.html

Several years ago, the use of Asian iconography, particularly Kanji or Traditional Chinese Characters, became quite popular. Strangely, often with people who had no clue what it meant. You saw it a lot in tattoos and the kind of logos some people like to stick on stuff. While I only recognize a few characters on site, the basic construction is distinctive; I saw a lot of characters written up side down or backwards.

A friend once came to me to show off his cool new Japanese tattoo. I didn't recognize it, though I could tell it was done by someone who didn't read Kanji; the strokes were drawn, not brushed. He said it mean dragon. Dragon, lung in Mandarin, is a pretty distinctive character. This poor sod had a tattoo that was the four character elements that made up lung. Taken individually they mean different things but I didn't know enough Chinese or Japanese to think of anything amusing. It was tragic, though.

Looks like Andy Sakai has found a way to vent his frustration with ignorant folks finding his language fashionable. I'm trying to feel bad for his victims, but I really can't.

http://www.soufoaklin.com/tattooartist.html

Note, I don't believe this story is real. Bascially because of the Onion like nature of the site and the doctored look of the picture. Also, the characters are Katakana, not Kanji, which just seems less artistic, somehow. Still, it amused.
.

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