If 2023 has been a taxing year for you in some way, well, Japan feels your pain. The kanji for ‘zei’, or tax, has been chosen as the character to represent the year that is coming to an close.
Every year in Japan a poll of public opinion is held to select a single kanji character that best represents the mood of the country in the year as it draws to an end.
The kanji is always revealed at a ceremony at Kyoto’s famous Kiyomizu temple, with a Buddhist priest drawing a huge calligraphy of the character.
This year the poll had almost 150,000 submissions. Runners up were the kanji for ‘hot’ and ‘war’, reflecting the ever-increasing summer temperatures and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. In fourth place was the kanji for ‘tiger’, a reference to the Hanshin Tigers baseball team, who recently won the Japan Series.
(Photo: Kyodo)