TOKYO: The mayor of one of the largest cities in Japan, where body art is associated with gangsters, has told municipal workers to forget about promotion unless they reveal whether or not they have a tattoo.
Toru Hashimoto, the hugely popular mayor of Osaka and a rising star on the national political stage, described the order to about 34,000 city workers earlier this month as “necessary for labour affairs management”.
“As a matter of course, it will never happen that someone is promoted without any problem after ignoring a legitimate order from his or her superior,” Hashimoto told reporters on Tuesday.
Body art is deeply taboo in Japan. Public baths, fitness centres and many other venues throughout the country usually ban customers with tattoos. — AFP