TATTOO TOUR TOKYO listens to the stories behind each tattoo on the people we meet in the city. This journal transcribes and publishes material from our shoots, including stories that couldn't fit into short social media videos. This time, our subject is GEN, vocalist of the Sapporo band HIKAGE. In December 2025, on the street, he showed us each of his full-body tattoos, from his neck to his back, arms, hands, and stomach.
List of Full-Body Tattoos
| Body Part | Motif | Meaning | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back | "HIKAGE" text | Carrying the band name | Ivan |
| Arm | Swallow | A symbol of departure. The returning swallow is not yet inked | Canadian tattoo artist |
| Arm | Cracked crown | No need for a crown, just be yourself | — |
| Arm | Gyakuten mark | The same mark as my idol JESSE | — |
| Elbow | "Eat bad food, make good music" | A line from HIKAGE's song "Yaiba" | kazz |
| Neck | Mirror-image "LOVE" and a rose | Love yourself in the mirror | Ryuichi |
| Neck | Abstract flower | Artist's trademark style | Ivan |
| Neck | Words meaning "Who cares?" | Nobody cares | Wataru |
| Neck | Microphone and brush, laurel wreath | Things I always hold | Pepsi |
| Chest | Eye of Providence | The most painful on my whole body | Wataru |
| Arm | Heart and "36" | My grandpa's death anniversary and name | — |
| Arm | "STAY REAL" | Words from my idol vocalist, K | — |
| Arm | "Time waits for no one" | Time waits for no one | — |
| Arm | "PMA", "DGF" | Positive mental attitude and "Don't give a fuck" | — |
| Arm | Snowy landscape, umbrella with rain falling inside | My family home in Hokkaido, a protective umbrella | — |
| Elbow | Snake | Supposed to be black, but got color | Canadian tattoo artist |
| Arm | Chrysanthemum | — | Canadian tattoo artist |
| Arm | Eagle | An eagle I asked a friend to do | Pepsi |
| Arm | Deer | Jacket for the song "Before Sunrise" | DEE |
| Arm | Japanese-style pattern | — | Ryuichi |
| Hand | "HAVE HOPE", mirror-image "BEAUTIFUL" | Have hope, got it because I like it | — |
| Stomach | Arch-shaped word | "Pinnacle" | DEE |
HIKAGE is a five-member band formed in Sapporo in May 2019. GEN (Vo), Wataru (Ba), ISSEI (Dr), YASUI (Gt), Halki (Gt). The band has primarily performed in live houses.
――When did you start the band?
GENI started when I was in junior high school. But the current band isn't from back then; I really started this current band when I was 23 or 24. I used to play guitar all the time, and now I'm the vocalist.
――What made you form the band?
GENI played guitar for about seven years, and I was really serious about that band, but it broke up. I tried to find a new vocalist, but there was no one around, so I figured I had no choice but to do it myself. That's how I started as a vocalist.
A guitarist steps up to the mic. The band's songwriting, which began that way, is now mainly handled by the guitar members. In GEN's words, "Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we do it with the members."
――What's the origin of the name HIKAGE?
GENThe name of my previous band was seriously too long, so people often couldn't remember it. I thought, everyone can remember Hikage (shade), right? Also, we mainly play in live houses, so we're active in places where the sun doesn't shine. I named it with that feeling of being in the shade.
Six letters spelling "HIKAGE" run vertically along his spine, from between his shoulder blades to his lower back. The black lines look like brushstrokes, and from a distance, they resemble a single spine. Among all his tattoos, GEN unequivocally states that this is the one he "likes the most, it's no exaggeration."
――What was the reason for getting it on your back?
GENI'm from Hokkaido, and I moved to Tokyo three years ago. At that time, it wasn't exactly a resolution, but I wanted to work hard on my band. There's a senior in my band, Ivan, who's also a tattoo artist, and I had him design the logo, and then I got it on my back.
――Why did you make it so big on your back?
GENWell, I thought, you gotta carry the band name, right? Vertical text like this is surprisingly uncommon. And this brushstroke style, it has a bit of a spine feel to it. I thought it looked cool.
The session took two sittings. "It hurt a lot." The price was "probably less than ¥100,000." From the logo design to the tattooing, it was all done by Ivan, his band senior.
At live shows, I often go shirtless. When my back is photographed, it looks good. I can't see it at all myself.
The most important name to him is in a place he'll never see. Recently, he's started to notice the empty spaces on his back, but he's refraining from adding new ones because he "doesn't want the band name to stand out less."
――Which is your first tattoo?
GENThe swallow. I got it in Canada, also when I was 19, I think. Japan wasn't my first, I got my first tattoo in Canada.
In his late teens, GEN spent a year and a half in Canada. The first six months were at a language school, followed by a working holiday with his band members at the time. He continued the band there, but it didn't work out and broke up. After returning to Japan, he formed the current HIKAGE.
――Why did you get a swallow?
GENApparently, in the traditional tattoo culture of old sailors, you'd get a swallow here when you set sail, and if you returned safely, you'd get another one on the other side. I haven't gotten the second one yet.
――Like you just left and never came back?
GENJust left. But that's intentional, though.
The swallow is a representative motif in sailor tattoos, with a legend that one was added for each voyage. GEN's single swallow flying on his arm has not yet returned.
He has many other tattoos from Canada. He got the chrysanthemum at a studio in Kensington Market in Toronto, an area lined with vintage clothing stores. According to GEN, it's "a place like Shimokita."
In a position opposite the swallow, there's a tattoo he just got recently: a cracked crown.
It's from the title of our first album, TRUE COLORS. The cracked crown means, like, I don't need a crown. It means it's okay to be my true self.
GEN's inspiration for starting a band was the rock band RIZE. The vocalist, JESSE, also performs with The BONEZ.
On JESSE's back is a large mark of the kanji character "天" (ten, meaning heaven) upside down. It's called the "Gyakuten mark" (inverted heaven mark). It's also the logo for JESSE's label, TENSAIBAKA RECORDS.
――Did JESSE ink it for you?
GENNo, this one is different. I got it when I was probably 19. That was a long time ago, and I hadn't met him yet then.
At the time, I got it thinking that my admiration probably wouldn't change from then on.
That premonition came true in an unexpected way. GEN now continues his band activities while working at Jesse's Shop AND FACTORY, where JESSE is the boss. It's a place in Togoshi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, that combines a silkscreen printing factory, a shop, and a tattoo studio. Shortly before this interview, The BONEZ and HIKAGE even performed together.
After a lot of time, we connected.
――What about the text on your elbow?
GEN"Eat bad food, make good music." It's a punchline from our song "Yaiba," which we released this year. "Yaiba" features Tanaka Yuki from SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!!, and apparently, it was a phrase Takuma from Susashi used to say when he was in a band a long time ago. I thought, this phrase has a punch, it's awesome, so I asked if I could borrow it and got the words.
――It's about how you can eat if you conform, right?
GENIt's quite ironic.
"Yaiba" is "YAIBA (feat. Tanaka Yuki (SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!!))", released in June 2025. It's HIKAGE's first featuring song. SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!! is an Osaka band affectionately known as "Susashi," with Takuma on synth and guitar.
This line was initially a merchandise design, not a tattoo. kazz, who specializes in brushwork, wrote the characters for "Yaiba" and the punchline, and through that connection, kazz gifted him the tattoo. The words were two lines on the merchandise but became one line on his arm. The brushstrokes sweep across his elbow in a single breath.
Not many people have words like these.
Several tattoos overlap around his neck. The first one on his neck was by Ivan, the same artist who did his back. Next to it are words inked by Wataru from 13INK in Susukino, Sapporo. When asked about the meaning, he replied, "Who cares? Nobody cares."
The most prominent and eye-catching is the rose blooming at his throat. It was the last one he got on his neck.
――What's the meaning of the rose?
GENOriginally, there was "LOVE" in mirror-image text where the rose is. It's like, not "love yourself," but when you look in the mirror, the inversion corrects itself, telling you to love yourself. That's the meaning I put into it.
――So you added the rose later?
GENI thought it would be lonely with just that. So I had Ryuichi, a tattoo artist from Three Tides Tattoo who's the same age as me, ink it.
The words appear reversed to others but can only be read correctly by him in a mirror. To this, a tattoo artist of the same age added a rose.
| Neck Tattoo | Artist | Price (as he remembers) |
|---|---|---|
| Mirror-image "LOVE" and a rose | Ryuichi (Three Tides Tattoo) | Around ¥40,000-¥50,000 |
| Abstract flower | Ivan | Around ¥33,000-¥34,000 |
| Words meaning "Who cares?" | Wataru (13INK, Sapporo) | — |
| Microphone and brush, laurel wreath | Pepsi (MAYFLY TATTOO SHOP, Sapporo) | — |
| Back of the neck | Canadian tattoo artist | — |
The abstract flower was done in a style that Ivan continues to ink as his trademark. The design of a crossed microphone and brush is because he loves to draw and always has a mic and brush in his hands. Pepsi, who inked this, was the vocalist of his band that broke up in Canada. He is now a tattoo artist at MAYFLY TATTOO SHOP in Minami-Hiragishi, Sapporo, and as a friend, has left several tattoos on GEN's body. The one on the back of his neck was done in Canada; too much black ink was used, so it's slightly raised.
――Your chest tattoo looks cool too.
GENThis one I got quite a while ago, inked by Wataru from Hokkaido. It's the Eye of Providence, a bit Freemason-like. I really like it, but it was the most painful. The center was just too painful.
An eye stares out from within a triangle in the center of his chest. Red light radiates behind it, drawing strong attention within the black lines. The price, he thinks, "was around ¥60,000."
The eye within the triangle is an icon representing the watchful gaze of God, also depicted on the back of the U.S. one-dollar bill.
The center of the chest is considered a very painful area because the bone is close to the surface, making machine vibrations resonate easily through the bone. Differences by body part are summarized in Tattoo Pain by Body Part.
――What are the numbers inside the heart?
GENIt's my grandpa's death anniversary. "36" was supposed to be read as "Saburo" (my grandpa's name), but I already got the phonetic equivalent wrong at that point. A "2" needs to be here for it to be Saburo. And I got it meaning June 15, 2012, but apparently, my grandpa passed away in 2013.
"36" was intended to be read as "Saburo" using 3 and 6. The "2" for "bu" is missing. It was his second tattoo, and he got it to commemorate his respected grandfather, after confirming the death anniversary with his father. However, his father had misremembered the year. GEN laughs as he points out the two mistakes: the name and the year.
I killed him too early, I guess. I'm an idiot.
His arm is lined with several word tattoos. Each is a fragment of what has influenced GEN.
"STAY REAL" are the words of K, the vocalist of Pay money To my Pain. K, who passed away in 2012, was one of GEN's idols.
"Time waits for no one" is from Mamoru Hosoda's animated film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006). It appears several times as a line written on the blackboard in the science lab. In GEN's words,
Time waits for no one, so it's connected to the heart.
It's a phrase directly linked to the heart tattoo commemorating his grandfather's death anniversary.
"PMA" stands for Positive Mental Attitude. It's a phrase famously championed by the hardcore punk band Bad Brains, and as GEN explains, it's "like a teaching, that a positive attitude is important." Next to it are three initials.
――What is this DGF?
GENIt means "Don't give a fuck." Like, I don't care.
The words are connected by flowers and plants. The snowy landscape image is of his "super rural" family home in Hokkaido. "It's really like this, nothing around."
――What about the umbrella?
GENIt doesn't have a very deep meaning, but it's about a positive attitude. Normally, rain falls outside, but here it's falling inside, like it's protecting me. It's an afterthought.
――Do you have an overall theme?
GENI don't have a theme, but I'm very conscious of balance. At first, I tried not to get any color, but the snake on my elbow, I really wanted it in black, but when I got it in Canada, I don't know if it was communicated or not, but I noticed it had color. At first, I was devastated, but then I thought, if that's the case, I'll make this arm colored too.
His arm, which was supposed to be all black, unexpectedly got color at a studio abroad. From there, GEN changed his approach, filling one arm with color and leaving the other arm mostly black to maintain overall balance.
Somehow, I like it now. There's still space, so there are gaps.
Lining his other arm and hand are tattoos born from connections with people.
――What about this eagle?
GENWhen I first moved to Tokyo, I worked at a sandwich shop, and above it was a place where tattoo artists would do pop-ups. When Pepsi from MAYFLY TATTOO, who was the vocalist of my previous band, came to Tokyo for a pop-up, I asked him to ink it, and that's the eagle.
The deer is a work by DEE (Jesse's Shop AND FACTORY), who tattoos on the third floor of Jesse's Shop AND FACTORY. He got a photo of a deer, used for the jacket of HIKAGE's song "Before Sunrise," tattooed on his arm.
The Japanese-style pattern was created from a simple request, "I want something a bit Japanese-style," by Ryuichi from Three Tides Tattoo, the same artist who did the rose on his neck.
――What's on your hand?
GENThis one has a frame, and it says "HAVE HOPE." It also has "BEAUTIFUL" in mirror-image text, which I had done in my own handwriting.
Like the "LOVE" on his neck, it's text that can only be read correctly when reflected in a mirror.
It's like, "So what?" I have tattoos, but I don't care what people think, I got them because I like them, that kind of feeling.
On his stomach is an arch-shaped word. This was also done by DEE. On his birthday after he started working at Jesse's Shop AND FACTORY, he received the word, and DEE tattooed it as a birthday gift. The meaning is "Pinnacle." He had decided a long time ago to get an arch-shaped word on his stomach.
――What's a good thing about getting tattoos?
GENPeople really remember you. That's huge, and there's a community among people with tattoos, so it's easy to become friends. Sometimes you look at each other's tattoos and think, oh, there's that way of inking too. There are more people with tattoos now than before, but the community is still small, which I like. But I think it's good that it's becoming more popular, so more people can experience tattoo culture.
――What's a bad thing?
GENHonestly, nothing, except there are some hot springs you can't enter. But now there are many places you can enter, so it's not really a negative thing. I don't regret getting tattoos.
――What activities will you be doing next year (2026)?
GENNext year, we'll be touring in January, and we're already producing new music. We'll probably release a new EP around spring and go on a national tour, so please come check us out. A lot of festivals are also confirmed. I want next year to be a year of great progress. Can't stop. Momentum is important. For now, I'm just working hard, so please support us.
True to his word, HIKAGE released their 5-track EP human. on April 1, 2026. Having just released an album, they're already moving on to the next music. The vocalist of this unstoppable band still has empty spaces on his body.
| Artist | Tattoos Inked |
|---|---|
| Ivan (band senior) | "HIKAGE" on the back, neck |
| Wataru (13INK, Sapporo) | Eye on the chest, neck |
| Pepsi (MAYFLY, Sapporo) | Microphone and brush on the neck, eagle |
| Ryuichi (Three Tides Tattoo) | Rose on the neck, Japanese pattern |
| DEE (Jesse's Shop AND FACTORY) | Deer, stomach text |
| Canadian tattoo artist (Toronto) | Swallow, snake, chrysanthemum, back of the neck |
The story of the Gyakuten mark can also be seen in the TATTOO TOUR TOKYO reel.
