Sharing Polynesian Tattoo Culture with the Asians and Americans: A Legacy of AAPI Respect, Not Division
- King Cocker
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Sharing Polynesian Tattoo Culture with the Asian Community: A Legacy of Respect, Not Division
King ‘Afa supports the AAPI community through Polynesian tattoo art, bridging cultures with respect. No discrimination—just ancestral empowerment.
As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I want to address a topic that sits at the intersection of culture, identity, and misunderstanding—specifically, the tension around Asian Americans wearing Polynesian tattoos.
I’ve spent over 20 years tattooing and preserving Pacific Island Polynesian Micronesian Melanesian art, and I’ve worked with clients of all backgrounds: Japanese American, Chinese American, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnamese, Korean, Thailand, Filipino, Laotian, and Malaysian Chinese, Burmese. Many of these clients came to me with deep respect and curiosity, wanting to understand the history, symbolism, and cultural meaning behind Polynesian tattoos. They didn’t come for trends—they came to honor ancestry and strength.
I lived in Malaysia for two years, immersed in the lives of Brunei and Malay Muslims, Singapore Chinese, Malaysian Chinese, and Southeast Asian communities. I shared food, traditions, festivals, and a mutual value of respect. That experience taught me how interconnected our cultures really are. www.kaliatattoo.com
I grew up in Tonga with Tongan-Japanese and Tongan-Korean families. Today, there are over 1,000 Tongan-Chinese families in Tonga.
We have Filipino-Tongan communities, Tongans living in Thailand, and over 200 Tongans who studied and lived in China and Japan for more than 25 years. Our people already coexist throughout Asia. We eat together, worship together, and celebrate together.
I grew up in Maufanga town, in the Nuku‘alofa district on the island of Tongatapu, Tonga. My childhood was surrounded by Tongan-Japanese families—like the Onodera family and the Nishi family. https://www.nishitrading.com/ https://www.facebook.com/nishitonga
We were neighbors, we were classmates, we shared meals and respected each other’s traditions. That’s what Pacific culture really is—coexistence.
I bought my first bike from a Tongan-Hong Kong family business—the Kwok family, who were respected and active members of the local community. Their store was more than just a business—it was part of the neighborhood, woven into the daily lives of Tongans.
We lived together. Shared meals together. Grew together. There were no racial barriers. Culture was shared, not segregated.
Yet some Samoan and Tongan individuals in the U.S. express anger when they see Asian Americans wearing Polynesian tattoos. These are often the same people who love Asian food, eat rice, noodles, sapasui (chop suey), and shop for Nike shoes and Sunday fabrics made in China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. They line up at Korean BBQ, wear clothes from H&M and Uniqlo, yet turn hostile when an Asian client wears a piece of Polynesian art designed with intention and cultural respect.
This is not cultural appropriation. This is cultural appreciation.
When my Korean American client tells me he was bullied by Samoans and Tongans in South Bay Los Angeles for wearing Polynesian tattoos, it breaks my heart. He collected that Polynesian tattoos to honor the Polynesian culture—but he was shamed for it. So he came to me, and I redesigned his Polynesian tattoo sleeve with love, dignity, and clarity.
This is why I do what I do. I don’t just create ink—I empower identity.
I do not discriminate by race, gender, or religion. My work is rooted in ancient Polynesian protocols, and when I share that art with the AAPI community, it is an act of unity, not division. We have always co-existed, supported each other, and admired each other's strengths.
To Polynesians who disagree: you don’t preserve culture by policing people. You preserve culture by educating, guiding, and protecting its value and truth.
But here in America, I’ve seen something else—something foreign to our island upbringing. American-born Tongans and Samoans have adopted racial division, street gang turf culture, economic segregation, and political polarization. They’ve absorbed U.S. identity politics, color divides, and media narratives, often forgetting the true Pacific values of humility, unity, and interdependence.
I recently tattooed a Thai American woman from Chicago who has returned to me over the years to receive Polynesian tattoos. She wears the art with sincerity and spiritual respect. She, like many of my Asian clients, reminds me of the harmony that once existed in Tonga—before modern racial ideologies crept in.
Asian culture has shaped our daily lives in the Pacific Islands from Asians in Guam, CNMI Marianas and across the Pacific Ocean.
Without Asian spices, many of our meals would be bland. The flavors of India, China, and Southeast Asia live in every dish we serve—from kale moa (chicken curry) to kale sipi (lamb curry). https://www.facebook.com/42Evergreen
These flavors came to Tonga with Indo-Fijians, Chinese, and Indian-Tongan families, many of whom have been part of our society for three generations or more—including the Prema, Ramanlal, Patel, and Singh families, who have helped build Tonga’s economy and culture.
Even in Samoa, the Chinese-Samoans have been influencing the islands since the 1800s, and in American Samoa, Korean families have added to the fa‘a Samoa way of life through food, discipline, and family values. https://youtu.be/Oepbx0R9TUs?si=Zg7kPuywVT0FXS6I
Today, you’ll find no Tongan farms producing curry spices and cuisine seasoning—we import them from Indo-Fijians iand Chinese Fijian in Fiji.
We rely on the cultures we once welcomed with open arms. That is the anga-faka-Tonga Pacific Islands way. That is the real Pasifika Oceania.https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555414870100
But many American-born Polynesians don’t know this. They haven’t lived outside of the U.S. of America. They haven’t walked in Fiji, Samoa, Niue, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Rotuma, Kiribati, Vanuatu, or the Solomon Islands. They haven't seen the real Polynesian and Melanesian life beyond TikTok or Instagram Facebook or political echo chambers. https://youtu.be/yd1xDms1jAc?si=KYY15C5EFGDqBDcl
Instead, these American Polynesians argue with their American Republican vs Democrat, conservative vs liberal system, and use social media to gatekeeping a culture they no longer practice. They wear Nike made in China, play video games based on other people's stories, and reject our own Tongan and Samoan artifacts, histories, and ancestral wisdom.
They fight to close the gate on others—while they’ve already left the garden.
Over the years, I’ve not only tattooed hundreds of clients from the Asian community—I’ve also mentored Asian and Filipino tattoo artists in Los Angeles who have gone on to become respected in their own right.
In 2013, I met Noel, a Filipino-American tattoo artist who had just opened Vine St Tattoo in Hollywood Los Angeles with his brother Niko and his father's financial support. He had started out doing prison-style black and grey tattoos, but was struggling to bring in clients. Nobody was hiring me at the time either in LA, but I found his Craigslist ad asking for a tattoo artist partnership—and I showed up.
I brought clients from all the world and across the US with me, and together we lifted Vine St Tattoo from the ground up, from 2013 to 2018.
I taught Noel about Samoan tattoo and culture, the meanings behind the designs, and the protocols of our Pacific Island tattoo art. Though he had never been to Samoa, his passion and respect were real.
Another Filipino artist I helped with Polynesian tattoo and Samoan tattoo was Joel, who grew up in Maui, Hawai‘i.
He originally focused on Polynesian tattoo styles but eventually transitioned into Filipino tribal tattooing. I supported that journey, knowing how important it is to reconnect with your own culture through ink.
Both of these artists now operate their own studios and tattoo Polynesian designs on Filipino Americans, Southeast Asian clients, and even Pacific Islanders themselves—with reverence, skill, and cultural care.
Meanwhile, some American-born Samoans and Tongans lash out at Asian clients and artists, accusing them of “stealing culture.” But many of these same people don’t follow the traditional Samoan or Tongan values they claim to protect. https://youtu.be/palYRSYQmwA?si=ohZ5YSdlWDY8GuBM
They refuse to wear the Tongan ta‘ovala, disrespect pukepuke fonua (the cultural value of holding onto land honors and traditional values), and don’t uphold the ‘anga faka-Tonga or fa‘a Samoa way of life. They dilute our traditions with American entitlement, treating sacred designs like brands while ignoring the protocols passed down by elders.
They eat Asian food, wear clothes made in Asia, stream anime, and enjoy K-pop or Filipino movies—but get angry when an Asian person respectfully wears a Polynesian tattoo.
"You do not protect culture by keeping the gate close. You protect culture by living it" King 'Afa
If you truly love our culture, wear it with honor, teach it with integrity, and guide others with humility.https://youtu.be/NaZaJevnxAc?si=KmlZgwsskS5apxg-
We must stop blaming outsiders while ignoring how our own people are disrespecting the sacredness of our culture from within.
When you ship from America to Tonga and Samoa to your Pacific Island Tongan kainga and Samoan aiga, the vessels that carries the shipping container across the Pacific Ocean is Chinese welded engineered built in China owned.
To the AAPI community: Thank you for your respect, your support, and your shared values. You are not outsiders to us. You are neighbors in the Pacific. You are family.
Let us continue this work—tattooing not just skin, but souls.
Bookings, inquiries, and appointments at: www.kingafa.com
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