Japanese Kanji Tattoos are very popular currently as more and more people discover their complex beautiful designs that can represent a word or meaning in a visually expressive way all in one character. There are many pitfalls to avoid if you are going to get a Japanese kanji tattoo, so read on to save yourself from an embarrassing mistake.

Do you own research before you go to the tattoo parlour. Do not go and pick a character out of a catalog once you are there. It is worth to spend the time to research the different characters and even the different styles that they can be written. Check with a Japanese native speaker to make sure that the character that you would like to use does actually mean what you think it does.

Foreign names do not translate into Kanji. Although it may be possible to find a combination of Japanese characters that roughly match a foreign name, it is not a good idea as the combination of characters will not be meaningful. If you would like to use your name for a Japanese tattoo design, you should get your name translated into the Katakana writing system.

Japanese characters can be very complex, made up of many strokes. Although there are many characters that are made up of a handful of strokes, some complex characters can be made up of 30 or more strokes. If you have selected a character that is made up of so many strokes, it is vital that the artist is able to reproduce each stroke exactly as it should be. It has happened that an artist has missed a stroke and the result is a character that is not complete and in some cases may even have a different meaning. The best option is to find a tattoo artist that is a native Japanese speaker or at least has experience with Japanese characters.