JAPAN TODAY



 

The kanji for gold (金 kin) was chosen as the single most representative character symbolic of the social mood in Japan this year, a Kyoto-based organization said Thursday.

The character symbolized Japan's gold medals at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's golden year.

The character can also be read as kane, meaning money. This year Japan saw money problems with political slush funds, robberies by people recruited online and rising prices putting a strain on household finances.

In Kyoto, chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori of Kiyomizu temple drew the character with a giant calligraphy brush on washi, or Japanese paper, 1.5 meters high and 1.3 meters wide, at the famous location. The event was televised live.

The selection for the 30th annual poll run by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation is based on votes cast by the general public.

The foundation received 221,971 answers. Of those, 12,148 were for gold, the fifth time that the kanji has been No. 1

The second most popular kanji was 災, sai (disaster) with 9,772 votes. Third with 7,486 votes was 翔, sho, (soar), the first character of Shohei Ohtani's name. Next were 震, shin (quake) and 選, sen (election).

Last year, the kanji of the year was tax (税, zei).