A few weekends ago, I checked out Fanatic's Tattoo event at Odaiba's Ariake Differ -- which is in an area of reclaimed land, that looks like it came out of a scene of Bladerunner. Differ is actually a huge pain in the ass to get to, but the monorail there almost makes up for it -- nearly everything you can see out the window is entirely artificial (including a man made beach, that I wouldn't really advise swimming to), buildings look like this, and it's a popular dating spot, where you can profess your undying love for your partner on this thing.

Speaking to tattoo artists, many of them tell me that much of the talent is not concentrated in Tokyo, as you would expect, but in the periphery, or cities such as Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, Kyoto, and even the south island of Kyushu. So, having been checking out a cavalcade of tattoo industry virtuosos outside of Tokyo for Skin Deep, it was great to see some inside Japan's capital city!

Tattoo events in Japan are one of the great things about the scene here -- they aren't exactly conventions, as they are more laid back -- more like an extended home party with lots of drink going around, live tattooing, bands and plenty of eye candy.

Asides from the gorgeous pieces on the clients, and exquisite tebori (manually inserted traditional Japanese tattoo) demonstrations, there was other entertainment such as Mua Thai boxing, a custom car show, (cars with 14 TV sets, no less) and no matter how hard you try, you just can't beat Tokyo fashion faux pas.

Oh yeah, Tsunami was there. If you think her set is cute, in real life she is so adorable it's almost criminal.