Kanji character close – which can mean gold or money – was chosen as Japan’s word of the year to reflect the country’s medal sweep Paris Olympics and a damaging financial scandal within the ruling party.
A single character that can also be read kane (Money), unveiled this week at Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, whose head priest, Seihan Mori, painted it with a giant brush on white washi canvas paper.
The best quality captured the zeitgeist attracted 12,148 votes out of 221,971 cast, according to Japan Kanji Aptitude Test Foundation, which has organized the annual competition since 1995.
It is the fifth time close he was chosen because of his association with Japanese athletes during the years in which the Olympics were celebrated. He last won this in 2011, when Japan The main draw is always 27 gold medals at the pandemic games postponed in Tokyo.
But this year’s election also shows public anger with the Liberal Democratic Party, which has suffered great losses in the October lower house election over the revelations that dozens of MPs had profited from official duties hidden money slush.
“Mori’s medals are both gold and public money to capture the attention of the public,” Mori said, according to the Asahi Shimbun, which noted that some have objected. close after a year of rising prices in cost-of-living crisis and recent high-profile robberies.
He said he was surprised at Mori’s choice, as he had expected of* – which means a circle – must be chosen to reflect public solidarity with the people living in the prefecture of Ishikawa, a region hit by a deadly movement on New Year’s Day.
In recognition of the impact of the shock, it was the second most popular choice saysignifies calamity, it was in the third place show – rise up or run away – which is the name of the Japanese Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani.