‘War’ is Japan’s word of the year after grim events of 2022

The character ‘sen’ was chosen by 10,804 of the 223,768 entries

Kiyomizu temple chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori writes the kanji character ‘sen’, meaning ‘war’, at the temple in Kyoto, western Japan (EPA)

Japan has chosen the word “war” as the best description for the year 2022 in voting as part of an annual contest.

The kanji character “sen”, meaning war or battle, was picked as the single most representative Japanese character in public voting held this week by a Kyoto-based organisation.

This was the 28th annual poll run by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, where public votes select a kanji character that describes the year.

“Kanji” is a type of script that is written in Chinese characters.

The character was chosen by 10,804 of the 223,768 entries, reported Japanese media.

Last year, Japan chose “kin” – meaning gold – as the kanji of the year in honour of the Tokyo Olympics, where the country won 27 gold medals and 58 medals overall.

But this year, “war” was chosen by the public because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict which dominated world affairs and news cycles and the assassination of the country’s longest-serving prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe was killed while making an election campaign speech in July, allegedly by a man angered by the former prime minister’s ties to the controversial Unification Church.

“The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the shooting of former prime minister Abe, and the rapid yen depreciation and inflation faced in daily life have caused anxiety for many people,” the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation said in a news release on Monday.

However, local media outlets said there were more meanings for the word domestically than world affairs, politics and inflation.

At home, the kanji also illustrated the public’s excitement about the heated battles the Japanese national soccer team fought at the World Cup held in Qatar, Kyodo news reported. The country’s football team, nicknamed Samurai Blue, exited in the round of 16.

After the selection of the new kanji for the year, chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori of Kiyomizu temple made the announcement by writing the character with a giant calligraphy brush on a 1.5m by 1.3m surface.

This, however, isn’t the first time the word has been chosen as the kanji of the year. “Sen” was also picked in December 2001, when 9/11 made headlines all across the globe.