Kiyomizu temple priest Seihan Mori puts the finishing touch on a caligraphy with Chinese character “hen”, meaning “change” at his temple in Kyoto.

'Change' voted Japan's character of the year

Saturday 13th December, 06:11 AM JST

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14 Comments

shinjukuboy at 07:56 AM JST - 13th December

Yes, and HEN also means wierd. Indeed it has been a wierd year. It means other things too, but let's not get into that.
some14some at 08:15 AM JST - 13th December

Yes, and HEN also means wierd. Indeed it has been a wierd year. i will call it 'taihen' from economy point of view. Rest of the world has selected the word 'bailout' that seems most appropriate.
Speed at 08:19 AM JST - 13th December

Save "fall" for next year when the world economic crisis ripples through and devastates Japan's economy, three-fold from this year.
JapanGeorgia at 10:34 AM JST - 13th December

That really applies to America too, as that was Obama's word.
Sarge at 11:04 AM JST - 13th December

"Hen" got a whopping 5.4% of the vote. So 94.6% thought "hen" was not the best kanji to characterize 2008.
telecasterplayer at 12:02 PM JST - 13th December

Is "The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation" signing onto President-elect Obama's movement? If so, is this a veiled tweak towards Taro Aso Souri-Daijin?
ptolemy at 12:25 PM JST - 13th December

And what exactly has changed in Japan? Oh yeah the uniquely unique 4 seasons, that's right. As far as Obama is concerned: Meet the new boss, same as the boss - We got fooled again.
bamboohat at 12:46 PM JST - 13th December

This is the "hen" in "hentai". Do a web search for "hentai anime" and see what comes up. Certainly appropriate.

translation "hen" by itself gives you: change; incident; disturbance; strange; flat (music); odd; peculiar; suspicious-looking; queer; eccentric; funny

source: taipainsoftware.com
moonbeams at 02:05 PM JST - 13th December

this is pretty funny and sad
gogogo at 02:39 PM JST - 13th December

Japan is really obsessed with America
thepro at 02:51 PM JST - 13th December

They'd better change something in this country. Can't just keep spending money on designer clothes and LV bags forever.
kitakirisuzume at 08:25 PM JST - 13th December

old Seihan Mori there looks like a barrel of laughs.

in any case the residents of Obama must be devastated by this news.
nanako77 at 09:28 PM JST - 13th December

It's a really good word that summarized most of characteristics in 2008!
kavikahi at 12:02 AM JST - 15th December

who called for change during his presidential campaign,

For that reason I would have chosen a different word and yearly identity.