Let’s file this under the already overstuffed “Should have had a Japanese speaker double check these kanji before I get the tattoo done” section. 
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“I have heard of kanji, therefore I am unreservedly qualified to make random alterations to Japanese phrases without fundamentally changing their meaning.”
This kind of thing is hilarious. I don’t like doing the shadenfreude thing usually, but if it’s people just doing dumb stuff while they should know better, sometimes I indulge 
On a semi-related note, I have to wonder if there are many Japanese or Chinese people who like deliberately taking the **** out of naive foreigners for tattoos, clothing designs, and so on. “Oh yeah, sure, those characters totally mean ‘love and friendship’. You can trust me. Really. No, I’m just laughing at something totally unrelated that happened a while ago.”
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If you went to an actual Japanese or Chinese tattoo artist, hopefully you’d get something that didn’t look like a computer font.
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Yeah the tattoo really isn’t even that special looking. Even if you’re getting “Dumbass Gaijin” tattooed on you (because you’re a dumbass gaijin) at least make it look like fancy calligraphy.
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I think she just used Google Translate. If you type in 7 rings you get 7輪. Then she probably looked up the kanji for seven, slapped them together and called it a day.
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If I want to an actual Japanese tattoo artist, hopefully I’d get something that looks like this computer font:
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Yeah you’d think Ariana could have afforded a tattoo artist that could do something more calligraphic. Her tattoo looks like someone used milquetoast Meiryo as their guide.
Have someone with talent that can do tattoo work like this so it at least looks cool even if you did put “Charcoal grill” on yourself:
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If you secretly lick a doughnut and put it back for sale, you don’t deserve good tattoo.
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While on the topic of correct phrasing, what is the best way to say “7 Rings”? 七つの指輪？ What’s the counter for ring?
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That at least looks to be the way her Japanese social media people translated it:
The most unfortunate thing of all is that Grande has people in Japan operating a Twitter account for her (next time ask them to check stuff!) and the video for “7 Rings” has the proper Japanese.
In the video, it’s correctly written as 七つの指輪 (nanantsu no yubiwa) or “seven rings.” It’s a shame she didn’t show that text to her tattooer.
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At least thanks to her mess up I’ve learned the word for the little grills they use at yakiniku famires in Japan. I always wondered what they were called, and now I know! Haha
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It’s a learning experience for all!
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Is this a publicity stunt? She’s a well known doughnut licker, and a ring is basically a doughnut made of metal. Seven is probably the number of seconds she and Pete Davidson were together. Put them together, bam, seven rings.
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I wonder if there is an Asian equivalent of people tattooing dumb stuff on themselves. Like “Toaster” on their backs or arms.
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I did find this story:
In China, meanwhile, the motivation for choosing English letters is simple – any foreign language is mysterious and exotic.
At Tattoo 007, Zhu Jian has inked a variety of English phrases, some more grammatically correct than others, including “Mr Lonely”, “Best love in my life” and “I belong to the god and it bless me”.
He founded his parlour in 2002, in a residential building in a central Shanghai suburb.
As with most of these stories, a grain of salt is always necessary.
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Didn’t she also talk about how she hates America in that same donut shop trip?
Hey maybe she just really likes those little charcoal grills. I know I would love one. Very convenient!
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It’s actually secretly in anticipation of her new album.
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