This year’s Kanji contest
Hi, Leo Sensei dayo.
2015 is almost finished. How were your days in 2015??
Now is good time for looking back this year and set new goals for next year.
Talking about looking back this year, we have two interesting contests in Japan. One is “Buzzwords contests” , which I already posted about, and the other is “This year’s Kanji contest”. I wanna introduce “This year’s kanji contest” in this post. You might not understand Kanji yet; however, it’s interesting to know selected kanji this year.
Here is the post about “Buzzwords contests”.
Election for Kanji
“Buzzwords contests” is contests which ten members select popular words or phrases in that year. On the other hand, anyone can vote one “This year’s Kanji contest” which reflects this year’s social situation in every December. But you have to describe the reason why you selected that kanji too. There are 129,647 voters through website and postal mail this year.
This year’s ranking
I wanna introduce this year’s top 10 ranking here. This is also useful to your vocabulary building.
How many kanjis do you know in this ranking?
①「安」
②「爆」
③「戦」
④「結」
⑤「五」
⑥「賞」
⑦「偽」
⑧「争」
⑨「変」
⑩「勝」
I wanna show the details about each kanji and introduce some reason why people selected.
①「安」
Sound for 「安」is（アン/やす・い）, (an / yasu・i)
This kanji is often used in 安心（あんしん, an shin, peace of mind）, 安全（あんぜん, an zen, safety）, 安保（あんぽ, an po, national security）, 安倍（あべ, a be, Japanese Prime minister’s family name）and 安い（やすい、yasu i., cheap）and so on.
In this year, new national security（安保） law was approved in the Diet. This was quite big change in terms of right of collective self-defense. Some Japanese were worried about involvement in war by using this right.
Many terrors happened and threatened safety(安全) in the world.
Many people pay attentions to Prime Minister Mr. Abe（安倍）’s words and action.
②「爆」
Sound for 「爆」is（バク）, (baku)
This kanji is often used in 爆発（ばくはつ, baku hatsu, explosion）, 爆弾（ばくだん, baku dan, bomb）, 爆買い（ばくがい, baku gai, big purchase at one time）and so on.
Many tourists from China came to Japan and purchased many goods at one time（爆買い） at department store, pharmacies and super market because of cheaper price and good quality.
Some volcanos in Japan exploded（爆発した）.
There are many bombing（爆弾） terrors all over the world.
③「戦」
Sound for 「戦」is（セン/ いくさ, たたか・う）, (sen/ ikusa, tataka・u)
This kanji is often used in 戦争（せんそう, sen sou, war）, 戦い（たたかい, tataka i, battle）and so on.
2015 is memorial year, 70 years after World War（戦争） Ⅱ ended.
There were many battles（戦い）with ISIS this year.
④「結」
Sound for 「結」is（ケツ/ むす・ぶ, ゆ・う）, (ketsu/ musu・bu, yu・u)
This kanji is often used in 集結（しゅうけつ, shuu ketsu, gather）, 結婚（けっこん, ke kkon, marriage）and so on.
Many young people gathered（集結した） and demonstrated to oppose new national security law.
Many famous celebrity in Japan married（結婚した） in this year.
⑤「五」
Sound for 「五」is（ゴ/ いつ・つ）, (go/ itsu・tsu)
This kanji is often used in 五輪（ごりん, go rin, the Olympic Game）, 五（ご, go, five）and so on.
We have Tokyo Olympic Game（五輪） in 2020, five years（5年） after 2015.
Goroumaru（五郎丸） got famous for his performance in World Cup Rugby in South Africa. Goroumaru is family name of one rugby player.
⑥「賞」
Sound for 「賞」is（ショウ/ ほ・める, め・でる）, (shou/ ho・meru, me・deru)
This kanji is often used in ノーベル賞（ノーベルしょう, nobel shou, the Nobel Prize）, 賞金（しょうきん, shou kin, prize）and so on.
Two Japanese scientists received the Nobel Prize（ノーベル賞）.
⑦「偽」
Sound for 「偽」is（ギ/ いつわ・る, にせ）, (gi/ itsuwa・ru ,nise).
This kanji is often used in 偽物（にせもの, nise mono, fake）, 偽装（ぎそう, gi sous, disguise）and so on.
There are many disguise（偽装）cases such as German car maker case and misstatement in financial statements by Toshiba and so on.
⑧「争」
Sound for 「争」is（ソウ/ あらそ・い）, (sou/ araso・i).
This kanji is often used in 戦争（せんそう, sen sou, war）, 争い（あらそい, araso i, battle）紛争（ふんそう, hun sou, dispute）and so on.
We had many politics battles（争い） in Japan.
There were many disputes（紛争） between countries in the world.
⑨「変」
Sound for 「変」is（ヘン/ か・わる, か・える）, (hen/ ka・waru, ka・eru).
This kanji is often used in 変化（へんか, hen ka, change）, 変わる（かわる, ka waru, change）and so on.
There were many changes（変化）in Japanese system such as new national security law, my-number system and Trans-Pacific Partnership and so on.
⑩「勝」
Sound for 「勝」is（ショウ/ か・つ, まさ・る）, (shou/ ka・tsu, masa・ru).
This kanji is often used in 勝利（しょうり, shou ri, victory）, 勝つ（かつ, ka tsu, win）and so on.
Japanese national rugby team defeated（勝った） South Africa team in World Rugby Cup in South Africa. This was historical victory（勝利）.
How many kanji in this ranking did you know?
I look forward to this year’s kanji next year.
