Kanji is relatives The word, which means gold or money, was chosen as Japan's word of the year, reflecting Japan's medal win at the Paris Olympics and the damaging financial scandal within the ruling party.
A single character that can also be read as: Kane (Money) was unveiled this week at Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera Temple, where Chief Priest Mori Kiyoshi Nori reproduced it with a giant brush on a white Japanese paper canvas.
According to the Japan Kanji Proficiency Test Association, which has hosted the contest every year since 1995, the character that best captured the zeitgeist received 12,148 votes out of 221,971.
This is the fifth time relatives It was chosen because of its relevance to the achievements of Japanese athletes in the year the Olympics were held. The last time they won was in 2021, when Japan won a record 27 gold medals at the Tokyo Games, which were postponed due to the pandemic.
However, this year's choice also reflects the public's anger toward the Liberal Democratic Party. The Liberal Democratic Party suffered a crushing defeat in October's House of Representatives election after it was discovered that dozens of members of the Diet had been siphoning profits from their official duties into slush funds.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, Mori said, “Both the gold medal and political funds are attracting the public's attention,” noting that some people may have voted for the gold medal. relatives This comes after a year of rising prices due to the cost of living crisis and a recent spate of high-profile robberies.
Mori said he was surprised by the choice, as he had expected it. circle – meaning yen – was chosen to reflect public solidarity with people living in Ishikawa Prefecture, an area hit by a deadly earthquake on New Year’s Day.
Considering the impact of the earthquake, the second most popular was rhinocerosmeans disaster, but the third place is lol – soar or fly – This is part of the name of Japanese Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani.
