I am getting my first tattoo on my lower back but it will be off to the side and not over my spine, I have read a lot of conflicting information about if it would hurt more than other places. On a scale of 1 to 10 how much would it hurt?

I’m not planning to get a tattoo soon or in the next year or so, but I want to know what to expect in the future. I’m not bent on a certain design, but I know I want one down my back. Right where the spine is, there might be some small designs going on my shoulder blades.

Basically, me and my older brother have always said this that I was going to get a carp tattoo on my back, and he was going to get a dragon (because of the age thing).
We decided a while back that instead of just getting someone here to do it, we would travel to japan and get an authentic tattoo artist to do them. Any ideas as to how much this would cost?