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Views From the Edge
Pop star Ariana Grande meant to celebrate her number 1 single, 7 Rings, with a new Japanese Kanji tattoo. Much to her embarrassment, Japanese fans had to tell her her tattoo translates into “small charcoal grill” rather than the title of her song, reported The Washington Post.
Unfortunately, her attempt to fix it only brought more attention to the mistake.
She had the tattoo artist add the kanji character for finger after consulting with her Japanese tutor amid the backlash.
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| ARIANE GRANDE |
Uh, no.
"Japanese can be read in vertical columns going right to left, top to bottom. It also can be read left to right like in English," explains Kotaku East.
The original mistake was the top two figures which reads “small charcoal grill” (七輪) kanji. In attempt to fix it, Grande added the kanji 指, meaning “finger.”
Kotaku East explains, further: "This addition attempts to turn the kanji 輪, meaning wheel or hoop, into the word 指輪 (yubiwa), meaning 'ring' as in for a finger, and mitigating the BBQ kanji. However, the kanji 指 and 輪 are split into different lines, so it looks weird. In English, this would be like writing 'rings' as 'ri' and then 'ngs' in another paragraph," something, Japanese schoolchildren are taught not to do.
Read right to left, top to bottom, the "correction" now reads: “Small charcoal grill, finger *heart*.”
Kotaku explained that the original tattoo located on her palm contains the Kanji character “七” meaning “seven” and “輪” meaning a “hoop”, “circle”, “wheel”, or “ring.” However, when the characters are combined, it creates a different meaning — “shichirin”, or “small charcoal grill.”
Despite the mistake in her tattoo, the correct translation can be seen at the 12-second mark in her own music video for 7 rings as well as on Grande’s official Twitter account, operated by people in Japan.
Initially, Grande nonchalantly acknowledged in now-deleted tweets that she took out the three middle characters “つの指” because of the unbearable pain and the temporary nature of her latest ink art. She wrote:
“indeed, i left out “つの指” which should have gone in between," said the singer. "it hurt like f**k n still looks tight. i wouldn’t have lasted one more symbol lmao. but this spot also peels a ton and won’t last so if i miss it enough, i’ll suffer thru the whole thing next time.”
Her lack of concern for the mistranslation has raised criticisms from some online users about Grande’s cultural insensitivity or cultural appropriation.
One Twitter user, @floorb6, wrote that Grande’s acceptance of her incorrect tattoo is a literal admission of the singer’s perception of Japanese culture as only an aesthetic.
After another Twitter user, @floralhearts, replied and said [Grande’s response] “is not that deep”; however, @floorb6 shared photos of various merchandise by Grande that incorporates Japanese characters and wrote: “considering she’s made a habit recently of slapping Japanese words on her pictures, album, and merchandise i’d say it’s pretty telling actually.”
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The original mistake was the top two figures which reads “small charcoal grill” (七輪) kanji. In attempt to fix it, Grande added the kanji 指, meaning “finger.”
Kotaku East explains, further: "This addition attempts to turn the kanji 輪, meaning wheel or hoop, into the word 指輪 (yubiwa), meaning 'ring' as in for a finger, and mitigating the BBQ kanji. However, the kanji 指 and 輪 are split into different lines, so it looks weird. In English, this would be like writing 'rings' as 'ri' and then 'ngs' in another paragraph," something, Japanese schoolchildren are taught not to do.
Read right to left, top to bottom, the "correction" now reads: “Small charcoal grill, finger *heart*.”
Kotaku explained that the original tattoo located on her palm contains the Kanji character “七” meaning “seven” and “輪” meaning a “hoop”, “circle”, “wheel”, or “ring.” However, when the characters are combined, it creates a different meaning — “shichirin”, or “small charcoal grill.”
Despite the mistake in her tattoo, the correct translation can be seen at the 12-second mark in her own music video for 7 rings as well as on Grande’s official Twitter account, operated by people in Japan.
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YOUTUBE
In the music video of '7 Rings' the Japanese characters are correct. |
Initially, Grande nonchalantly acknowledged in now-deleted tweets that she took out the three middle characters “つの指” because of the unbearable pain and the temporary nature of her latest ink art. She wrote:
“indeed, i left out “つの指” which should have gone in between," said the singer. "it hurt like f**k n still looks tight. i wouldn’t have lasted one more symbol lmao. but this spot also peels a ton and won’t last so if i miss it enough, i’ll suffer thru the whole thing next time.”
Her lack of concern for the mistranslation has raised criticisms from some online users about Grande’s cultural insensitivity or cultural appropriation.
One Twitter user, @floorb6, wrote that Grande’s acceptance of her incorrect tattoo is a literal admission of the singer’s perception of Japanese culture as only an aesthetic.
After another Twitter user, @floralhearts, replied and said [Grande’s response] “is not that deep”; however, @floorb6 shared photos of various merchandise by Grande that incorporates Japanese characters and wrote: “considering she’s made a habit recently of slapping Japanese words on her pictures, album, and merchandise i’d say it’s pretty telling actually.”
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