Kanji of the Year

Annually the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation solicits votes for the kanji of the year. The triumphant character this year is pronounced hen and has no association to poultry. Kanji characters have more than one meaning and hen represents change or strange. One interpretation might be that when something changes, at first it seems strange. 2008 has been a year of odd change including the deterioration of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nikkei, the revolving door of the Japanese Prime Mister post, the advancement of global warming and of course, the historic election of Barak Obama. In addition, the Japanese received a whopping four nobel prizes and won more medals at the Olympics than expected. A year of bad and good or yin and yang to aid humanity towards a balanced life!

Chief priest Seihan Mori at Kyoto's Kiyomizudera temple writing the kanji of the year.
Photo credit: JUN UEDA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN