This might be a stupid question, but ever since we first went to Japan, I was wondering about this. At an Onsen my friend and I encountered a man with his whole body tattooed (We are tattooed as well, so we had to go to a tattoo-friendly one) which actually looked awesome. Though not entirely sure, if he was a Yakuza member, it certainly seemed like it, but I really liked the tats and wanted to compliment him for the cool body ink, yet being scared of getting jumped or sth afterwards, I didn't. An Onsen probably wouldn't be the best place to do this anyway. But yeah, ever since that time, I wondered if it is welcomed to compliment probable Yakuza members or if this might come off as weird or even provocative, especially when coming from a foreigner.
by OrbicLP