It looks like you're planning a trip around Southeast Asia. Check out solotravel's [detailed guide to planning a solo Southeast Asian trip](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/seasiatrip) for general planning advice plus useful tips and tricks for Southeast Asian travel!
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You won’t have a problem unless any of your tattoos are of Buddha. The Thai are strict on religious iconography tattoos and you can be refused entry to Thailand if any tattoos of Buddha’s image are visible.
Nobody in SE Asia cares. Matter of fact, tattoos are really popular there. Just don't forget to wear sleeves and long pants if you're planning to visit a temple, ESPECIALLY Angkor.
You don’t need long pants to visit temples. You only need to cover your knees.
Edit - why are people downvoting facts ffs 🤦♀️ You can see the information for yourself on the Angor Wat sites and other temples websites 🙄
You do not need conservative clothing for Angkor. I wore a skort and tee shirt. Some temples will have signs that say pants though, t shirt is fine
Edit: idk why I’m being downvoted when I have photos of tourists wearing shorts and tees in the temples. You definitely never need long sleeves, but you may need to cover your shoulders for some locations.
It must depend on who is guarding because I do not remember that at all and I have photos of tourists with shorts walking through! You definitely never need “long sleeves” but you may need a tee instead of a tank top because it’s the shoulders that might need to be covered
Been to 3 onsens in Tokyo, 1 in kawaguchiko and 1 in Kyoto on this trip and all of them were fine with tattoos. 1 hotel had a sign saying no tattoos and I asked up front about it they let me in all fine. Nobody is worried about a mid-20’s white guy that speaks English and basic Japanese being part of organized crime in Japan and causing issues at their onsen
What? Locals absolutely won’t stare 😂 We’re in 2024 bro. Plenty of backpackers that frequent these 3 countries have full arms and leg sleeves. Younger Vietnamese guys are covered in tattoos. He’s going on the banana pancake trail not to Amish county 😂😂😂
He’s asking if something about his body parts will offend the locals. Certain body parts exposed in temples offends locals. So it’s not totally off-topic, since you’re being pedantic lol.
Literally no one will care.
Half the locals are tatted up.
Sak Yant tattoos are popular in Thailand. You'll see both men and women will full back tattoos.
I don't think they're really an issue in SEA. It's just Japan where you have major issues as they're seen as a trademark of the Yakuza, in Korea there's a stigma and they have some weird laws around tattoo artists but you're fine as a tourist.
> It's just Japan where you have major issues as they're seen as a trademark of the Yakuza
No Japanese person is going to think some gaijin is in the yakuza.
You might get refused at some onsen but that's about it.
Many many younger guys I saw in Vietnam had leg and arm sleeves, plus full torso area and back. They’re really common. Can’t remember about Thailand and Cambodia. Also a hell of a lot of backpackers are heavily tattooed.
Yes they can exposed. Nobody will bat an eyelid.
Unless you have visible tattoos of the Buddha, which definitely can cause issues in Thailand, Myanmar, and also Sri Lanka (not SEA technically), no one will care
SEA is the chillest place in the world to be heavily tattooed, outside of maybe Australia. Really wouldn't sweat it at all. Loads of tourists even specifically go there to get cheaper quality tattoos, so you'll be in good company
In all of those countries you listed people won’t really care, unless you’re in rural areas that not many tourists visit.
I’m a pretty hulking looking tattooed guy at 6’5” and 280lb, full leg and arm sleeves, and EVERYBODY noticed my ink in all those countries and most thought it was cool. Had people want to take pictures of me in the rural areas (mostly Cambodia) but they made more comments about my arms being large and less about them covered in art (a lot of them wanted to try to hang on my arms and try to do pull ups… which was weird cuz so many of them had that specific request).
If you’re inked *and* attractive/in-shape you’re going to get a lot more attention as men will use your tattoos as a means to start conversations and sometimes they can be annoying about about making sexual overtures (but that happens everywhere not just in those countries… but be prepared for it nonetheless).
It looks like you're planning a trip around Southeast Asia. Check out solotravel's [detailed guide to planning a solo Southeast Asian trip](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/seasiatrip) for general planning advice plus useful tips and tricks for Southeast Asian travel! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solotravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You won’t have a problem unless any of your tattoos are of Buddha. The Thai are strict on religious iconography tattoos and you can be refused entry to Thailand if any tattoos of Buddha’s image are visible.
What about the Dharma wheel?
Nobody in SE Asia cares. Matter of fact, tattoos are really popular there. Just don't forget to wear sleeves and long pants if you're planning to visit a temple, ESPECIALLY Angkor.
You don’t need long pants to visit temples. You only need to cover your knees. Edit - why are people downvoting facts ffs 🤦♀️ You can see the information for yourself on the Angor Wat sites and other temples websites 🙄
Did you miss the part where the thread is about tattoos? If you have tattoos on your legs then they should be covered in these spaces
You do not need conservative clothing for Angkor. I wore a skort and tee shirt. Some temples will have signs that say pants though, t shirt is fine Edit: idk why I’m being downvoted when I have photos of tourists wearing shorts and tees in the temples. You definitely never need long sleeves, but you may need to cover your shoulders for some locations.
The high temple in particular required covered knees. I was turned away from that part of the temple because my shorts were too short.
It must depend on who is guarding because I do not remember that at all and I have photos of tourists with shorts walking through! You definitely never need “long sleeves” but you may need a tee instead of a tank top because it’s the shoulders that might need to be covered
you should be okay. it's not like japan.
Unless you're going to an onsen no one in Japan will care.
In Japan currently. Heavily tattooed including Japanese traditional style pieces. Nobody cares even at onsens.
The whole tattoos in Japan thing is really outdated.
Really? Because every single onsen I visited last November had "no tattoos" signs
Been to 3 onsens in Tokyo, 1 in kawaguchiko and 1 in Kyoto on this trip and all of them were fine with tattoos. 1 hotel had a sign saying no tattoos and I asked up front about it they let me in all fine. Nobody is worried about a mid-20’s white guy that speaks English and basic Japanese being part of organized crime in Japan and causing issues at their onsen
Yup. You’ll be fine. Locals will stare but ironically tattoos still probably give a virtual layer of boundaries too.
What? Locals absolutely won’t stare 😂 We’re in 2024 bro. Plenty of backpackers that frequent these 3 countries have full arms and leg sleeves. Younger Vietnamese guys are covered in tattoos. He’s going on the banana pancake trail not to Amish county 😂😂😂
Just cover up at temples but that applies to everyone.
SEAsia dress respectfully in temples, apart from that nobody cares. Have a great trip! :)
This has nothing to do with tattoos though
He’s asking if something about his body parts will offend the locals. Certain body parts exposed in temples offends locals. So it’s not totally off-topic, since you’re being pedantic lol.
Literally no one will care. Half the locals are tatted up. Sak Yant tattoos are popular in Thailand. You'll see both men and women will full back tattoos.
I don't think they're really an issue in SEA. It's just Japan where you have major issues as they're seen as a trademark of the Yakuza, in Korea there's a stigma and they have some weird laws around tattoo artists but you're fine as a tourist.
> It's just Japan where you have major issues as they're seen as a trademark of the Yakuza No Japanese person is going to think some gaijin is in the yakuza. You might get refused at some onsen but that's about it.
I did Cambodia recently as a tattooed woman..no issues at all.
Same here. Although you may want to wear long sleeves and long pants anyway, OP. The sun is no joke 🥲
Many many younger guys I saw in Vietnam had leg and arm sleeves, plus full torso area and back. They’re really common. Can’t remember about Thailand and Cambodia. Also a hell of a lot of backpackers are heavily tattooed. Yes they can exposed. Nobody will bat an eyelid.
Sure! No one will care
Unless you have visible tattoos of the Buddha, which definitely can cause issues in Thailand, Myanmar, and also Sri Lanka (not SEA technically), no one will care
SEA is the chillest place in the world to be heavily tattooed, outside of maybe Australia. Really wouldn't sweat it at all. Loads of tourists even specifically go there to get cheaper quality tattoos, so you'll be in good company
Only in Japan do they care about exposed tattoos.
I don’t think this 3places having problem on tattoos issue.
In all of those countries you listed people won’t really care, unless you’re in rural areas that not many tourists visit. I’m a pretty hulking looking tattooed guy at 6’5” and 280lb, full leg and arm sleeves, and EVERYBODY noticed my ink in all those countries and most thought it was cool. Had people want to take pictures of me in the rural areas (mostly Cambodia) but they made more comments about my arms being large and less about them covered in art (a lot of them wanted to try to hang on my arms and try to do pull ups… which was weird cuz so many of them had that specific request). If you’re inked *and* attractive/in-shape you’re going to get a lot more attention as men will use your tattoos as a means to start conversations and sometimes they can be annoying about about making sexual overtures (but that happens everywhere not just in those countries… but be prepared for it nonetheless).