Nov 15 (Kyodo) - A Japanese high court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and acquitted a tattooist for operating without a medical license, ruling the process is not a medical practice.
"The tattooing procedure is not relevant to medicine and it does not constitute a medical act controlled under the medical practitioners' law," said the Osaka High Court's Presiding Judge Masaki Nishida when ruling on tattoo artist Taiki Masuda's case.
In September last year, the Osaka District Court ruled Masuda had performed an unlicensed medical practice when he tattooed the arms and other body parts of three women between July 2014 and March 2015 at his home and studio in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. Masuda was ordered to pay a fine of 150,000 yen ($1,300).
Source: ANNnewsCH