When people ask about where I'm "from"—meaning where my ancestors came from—I tell them I'm "7/8 German." Of my great-grandparents, seven out of eight of them were first or second-generation German immigrants, with one marrying a Brit—or so my parents tell me. This means: the older I get, the more hair I get on my back.
I run clippers over the hair on my back before each appointment. (Usually with help to get the hard-to-reach spots.) I can usually guess what areas Shinji will be working on at the next appointment. This time I guessed wrong. Instead of starting to work up from my left hip (where there is still a good bit to do) he continued on my right shoulder, connecting my back to the work on my arm done by Horiyoshi 3.
I do wonder how my dragon will look when my hair grows in, when I'm not as fastidious about maintaining the growth on my Germanic back. I wonder how it looks too; the Japanese half-suit on the blond guy. Cultural appropriation aside: The blond hair, the freckles; how does it look with such heavy black, such solid coverage; the design coming from over a hundred years of Japanese tattooing tradition of being put on less pale, less hairy skin, framed by black body and head hair?
I have a lot of time to ponder thoughts like these as I'm getting tattooed.
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