Tattoos in New Zealand

When we were finished in Japan, our next stop was New Zealand. First, I had a couple days to write script and see my friends Matt & Minette and their daughter Lillian:




It was a bit windy on the Auckland volcano where all the tour buses stop (CAUTION: LOUD WINDY NOISE ON VIDEO!):


Then we went back to their house in Ponsonby. Matt and I headed out for beers. After a long red-eye flight from Japan via Australia, this was the perfect antidote:


Back at their house, Lillian showed off:




I headed off for some surfing in Raglan...and stayed in an eco-hostel where the cabins were made from recycled train cabooses:


Then we got to work. In Auckland, we met Maori tattoo artist Tu Duley, a great guy and excellent artist. He tattooed our host:










Then he invited us to join him on an adventure. He was heading up into the mountains of the
Te Urewera National Park, to a village called Te Mapou, where his tribe, the Tuhoe people have lived for centuries. They're the only Maori tribe who weren't colonized by the Europeans, and they live pretty close to the land - under the shadow of their sacred mountain, Maungapohatu:


We filmed the drive:


When we arrived, they did a traditional welcoming ceremony:


Here's a video of us approaching the Marae:


Then Tu tattooed some facial mokos on other members of the tribe:


Tu looking like a stud:


Rua Kenana is the prophet who founded the town in 1908:


Then we spent the night in the longhouse - the marae - and left the next day. All in all, an amazing trip.

Tattoos in Japan

Working on a History Channel show about the history of tattoos, I went to Japan and New Zealand to see what tattooing was all about in both of those places.

I took millions of photos and videos, so I'll condense it down to the highlights.

In Japan, we visited the world's busiest intersection in Shibuya:


We also stayed in some tiny hotels:


On our search for tattoo history, we visited Jikei University, which has a dried and mounted tattooed skin - preserved from a dead Yakuza in the 1930's. Kinda gruesome, but very very interesting. They were very nice to us and showed us the skin:


Here's a video of the skin:


We met Horiyoshi III, the country's top hand-poking tattoo artist. He gave our host a tattoo. Horiyoshi has a tattoo museum with some interesting displays, including preserved tattooed heads from New Zealand and Kewpie dolls:



When the shoot was over, I headed to the slopes for a little skiing:


I found some funny menu items, as well: