Kanji of the Year

The kanji of the year (今年の漢字) is a character chosen by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会) through a national ballot in Japan, starting in 1995. The character with the most votes, selected to represent the events of that year, is announced in a ceremony on December 12 (Kanji Day) at Kiyomizu Temple.

Japan also holds an annual Word of the year contest called "the U-CAN New/Trendy Word Award" (Shingo ryūkōgo taishō), sponsored by the Jiyu Kokuminsha publisher (by U-CAN since 2004).