2008: Kanji of the Year
The Japan Kanji Proficiency Examination Association (日本漢字能力検定協会) have announced their 2008 Kanji of the Year: 変, meaning both “strange” and “change” (and even “rebellion“).
I had high hopes for this year after the sneering cynicism of 2007’s winning kanji, 偽 (fake), but KotY voters clearly aren’t yet prepared to abandon basket-of-puppies territory. Not that they aren’t representing some sort of Zeitgeist — @nifty got exactly the same results polling bloggers — but when both Obama and Aso qualify as examples of the same phenomenon, it’s clearly “change” defined extremely broadly.
Tansho Miki (丹所美紀) observes [and Scilla Alecci translates], 変 by itself feels much closer to “strange” or “mistaken” than “change,” which, she argues, applies to Aso perfectly.
Runners up included 金 (money), 落 (fall), and 株 (stock), for obvious international reasons; 毒 (poison) and 食 (food), reflecting ongoing popular anxiety over food safety; and 不 (un-), which is straight-up nihilism — those who selected it invoke compounds like 不安 (uncertainty), 不幸 (misfortune), and even 不気味 (creepy).
Related: Pink Tentacle’s essential annual rundown of the year’s top 60 Japanese words.
December 18, 2008 at 6:33 am
re: that Pink Tentacle list
What, no “Golden Eggs”-derived words? Where’s “demoru?” Whither “Chou-senpai?” Yeah, ok, maybe those episodes technically got made in 07, but cmon, 2008 was their year.
Injustice.
December 18, 2008 at 8:51 am
love how designboom straight-up lifts the image and text; at least they link…
December 18, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I have to admit, one of my most memorable moments this year was being the only one in a small room full of people who didn’t understand what was so fall-down funny about the word “necessary”.
December 19, 2008 at 8:21 am
TECHNOPOLIS!
May 23, 2009 at 12:40 am
[…] Kanji of the Year 2008 is HEN, which means both “Change” and “Strange” – fitting, isn’t […]