Japan selects ‘gold’ as the kanji of the year in honor of Olympic achievement – and slush fund politics
News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 13th December 2024
The kanji symbol kin, which can signify gold or money, has been picked as Japan’s word of the year in light of the country’s medal-winning performance at the Paris Olympics as well as a catastrophic financial scandal within the ruling party.
The single character, which can also be read as kane (money), was presented this week at Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, where the chief priest, Seihan Mori, painted it with a large brush on a white washi paper canvas.
The figure who best captured the zeitgeist received 12,148 votes out of 221,971 cast, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which has organized the yearly event since 1995. It is the sixth time that kin has been chosen, due to its relationship with Japanese athletes’ achievements over Olympic years. It last won in 2021, when Japan won a record 27 gold medals in the pandemic-delayed Games in Tokyo.
However, this year’s selection reflects public dissatisfaction with the Liberal Democratic Party, which suffered significant losses in October’s lower house election following disclosures that scores of its MPs diverted profits from official functions into hidden slush funds.
“Both gold medals and political money have captured the public’s attention,” Mori said, according to the Asahi Shimbun, which observed that some may have voted for relatives after a year of rising costs during the cost-of-living crisis.
Mori expressed surprise at the choice, expecting wa – which means circle – to represent public unity with people in Ishikawa prefecture, which was rocked by a catastrophic earthquake on New Year’s Day. In recognition of the quake’s impact, the second most popular choice was sai, which means calamity, followed by sho – soar or fly – which is part of the name of Japanese Major League Baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani.
