Given Japan’s year of natural catastrophes, the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society thought that “disaster” was a suitable symbol for 2018.
After a year of earthquakes, torrential rains, floods, typhoons and torrid heat, the Chinese character meaning “disaster” ( 災: “wazawai” or “sai”) was named as Japan’s “2018 Kanji of the Year”. Chinese characters are known as kanji (漢字) in Japan.
This year’s kanji was selected by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society based on the results of a nationwide poll conducted earlier in the fall. Of the 193,214 entries submitted from all Japan, “wazawai” received the most ballots at 20,858.
Throughout 2018, Japan endured a steady series of hammer blows, including:
In a news release, the Kyoto-based Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society explained that “disaster” was a suitable symbol for 2018 in Japan because the kanji character touched people’s lives in different ways:
日本全国「災」害は、いつどこで起きるか分からないと、自助共助を重視する人が増え、防「災」の意識が高まった。多くの人が「災」害を忘れず、教訓として減「災」につなげていきたいと心に刻んだ一年
Since, all over Japan, no one knew when calamity ( 災 害) might strike, the number of people who decided to take personal responsibility for disaster preparedness (防 災) increased.
