Every once in a while, I get the urge to get something pierced, and Saturday was one of those days. I'd been looking at pictures and reading stories online for the last few days at BME trying to decide what I wanted to get pierced next. I was planning on waiting until I got back to the United States to get another piercing, but I got the urge, and I couldn't resist.
At A Glance Author nwilli When It just happened Studio Ryukyu Location Okinawa, Japan I don't have a car here, so around 7 pm, I started trying to find a ride, but everyone that had a car was drinking. After getting this response from everyone for about an hour, I still had the urge, and I was determined. I found one of my friends and started talking to him about it.
By that time, I had decided that I would just wait until I could find a sober ride there, but the more I talked about it, the more I wanted to do it right then. So, I called a taxi. I didn't have enough cash or yen so I was planning on stopping at an ATM on the way there. I talked my friend into going with me, and we both got in the taxi and directed them to the nearest ATM.
It was at this time that I realized that I didn't have my ATM card. I still didn't know what I wanted to get pierced, and I had a little money, so I figured I'd have enough to get something pierced. It turns out that I didn't need to worry about that.
I already knew where I wanted to go to get my new piercing. I've gotten my first tongue piercing three times. I had to keep taking it out for different reasons for a couple months at a time, and it always closed up. But, since it was my favorite piercing, I kept getting it repierced. The third time, I was new in Japan and looking for a piercer. I went to a tattoo parlor, and they told me about Ryukyu. So, that's where I got my first tongue piercing (for the third time), and that's where I wanted to go again.
The taxi dropped us off about a block away from Ryukyu, and we started walking. As we got closer to it, it became more and more apparent that it was not open. We walked up to the locked and gated door and saw that it had closed at 8 pm. It was 8:30. I was still not discouraged, so I went into the tattoo parlor next door and asked them if they knew of any other piercing places. I don't think they spoke English very well, and they pointed next door. I thanked them and left.
The next day, I did some more research on BME and decided what I wanted to get pierced. I decided that I wanted to get two more in the center of my tongue to equal three, my nipples, and two more in my navel.
This time I knew that Ryukyu was opening at 2 pm, so at about 2:30, I got my friend, called a taxi, went to the ATM (with my card this time), and went to Ryukyu. I had written down everything I wanted, and I showed it to the piercer (I can't remember his name, but it was the same one who had done my first tongue piercing). He told me to stick out my tongue. I did, and he said he could only do one more in my tongue, and if I wanted a third one, I'd have to wait until the second one healed. He told me how much everything would cost, and then I had to wait for another girl who was only getting one piercing to go first.
When it was my turn, I went behind the curtain, and he asked me if I wanted to do my tongue first. I said sure. I rinsed my mouth out and sat down in the chair. He told me to stick my tongue out again, and he dried my tongue off and put the dot where he would pierce. I looked at it and approved it while he got everything ready. After sitting there with my tongue out for a few minutes, he came back to do my first piercing of the day. He put the clamp on, and since he did my other tongue piercing, I already knew he wasn't going to give me any warning. The initial pain was what I expected, but it bled a lot more than any of my other piercings (including my first three tongue piercings). So, through the other four piercings, I had to get up between each one and rinse.
By the time I got home, it was still bleeding a little, but it quit shortly after that. When I looked at it closer when I got home, it looked off center a little bit, and it came out the bottom of my tongue further forward than where it went in on top. I only left the original longer barbell in for that day because it was further forward in my mouth and getting in the way a lot. The barbells they use to pierce have smaller balls than usual, and once I put the shorter barbell with larger balls in, it didn't look off center anymore. It definitely comes out the bottom further forward though.
It's been three days now, and I'm still getting used to it. The bottom always hits my bottom gums in the front of my mouth, and I'm not used to that. Unlike with my other tongue piercings, my tongue is still swollen, and there's some pain that I think is from having the shorter barbell in. Once that goes away, I'm sure I'll love it as much as my other piercings.