When you say japanese are you referring to Kanji symbols? I have a translation of life and lesson with my tattoo and so i have the kanji symbol for life as a tattoo.

The way the japanese use kanji symbols differs from english as they are used as building blocks
for instance, sei as a singular kanji means both life or birth however if it is used with the kanji sen which means ahead, its meaning changes, it becomes ahead and life ie. teacher, sensei.

the same kanji symbol can be used in numerous combinations and so its meaning changes so you have to do the research before comitting to it as a tattoo.

the kanji i think you want is sei (life) which looks like this… http://learnkanji.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/life-sei.gif