Japan yesterday chose the kanji character for war as the symbol for 2022 after a year marked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The public votes in the annual event for the written character they think best represents the past year.
Olympic-themed choices dominated last year, but the mood was darker this year, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which organizes the vote.
Photo: AFP
“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 foundation said in a statement.
Japanese TV stations broadcast the announcement live, with Seihan Mori, master of the ancient Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, writing the character on a large white panel with an ink-soaked calligraphy brush.
“I was surprised, frustrated, angry and sad by the war in Ukraine. I am also angry at myself for not being able to do anything about it,” said one voter who picked the character.
Abe was shot in July by a man who reportedly resented the Unification Church over massive donations his mother made to the sect.
War — also picked to represent sporting battles in baseball and at the FIFA World Cup — was followed in the rankings by a character meaning both cheap and safe, with the weak yen and inflation adding to feelings of insecurity.
The character for fun and easy was ranked third, with one voter citing the opening of the Studio Ghibli theme park.
Japan chose “gold” as kanji of the year last year in honor of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which took place after a COVID-19 postponement.
The 2020 winner was mitsu, meaning dense, crowded and close — three situations people in Japan were urged to avoid to prevent COVID-19 infection.
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
RSS