Japan chooses ‘gold’ as kanji of the year in nod to Olympics glory – and slush fund politics

The kanji character kin – which can mean gold or money – has been chosen as Japan’s word of the year to reflect the country’s medal sweep at the Paris Olympics and a damaging financial scandal inside the ruling party.

The single character, which can also be read as kane (money), was unveiled this week at Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, whose head priest, Seihan Mori, reproduced it with a huge brush on a white washi paper canvas.

The character that best captured the zeitgeist attracted 12,148 votes out of 221,971 cast, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which has organised the annual contest since 1995.

It is the fifth time that kin has been selected, thanks to its association with the feats of Japanese athletes during years when the Olympics are held. It last won in 2021, when Japan had its best-ever haul of 27 gold medals at the pandemic-delayed Games in Tokyo.

But this year’s choice also reflects public anger with the Liberal Democratic party, which suffered heavy losses in October’s lower house election over revelations that dozens of its MPs had siphoned profits from official functions into secret slush funds.

“Both gold medals and political money have captured the public’s attention,” Mori said, according to the Asahi Shimbun, which noted that some may have voted for kin after a year of rising prices during the cost-of-living crisis and a recent spate of high-profile robberies.

Mori said he had been surprised by the choice, having expected wa – which means circle – to be chosen to reflect public solidarity with people living in Ishikawa prefecture, the region hit by a deadly earthquake on New Year’s Day.

In acknowledgment of the quake’s impact, the second most popular choice was sai, meaning disaster, while third place went to sho – soar or fly – which forms part of the name of the Japanese Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani.