News "Bear" (熊) picked as most symbolic kanji of 2025

[thomas]

The kanji chosen to represent the year was "kuma," or bear — a result that surprised few and only narrowly surpassed the character for rice. The announcement came on 12 December at Kyoto 's Kiyomizudera temple, where the chief priest, Seihan Mori, brushed the winning character in sweeping strokes across an oversized sheet of paper.

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The selection captured a year marked by an unprecedented number of bear sightings and attacks nationwide, as well as renewed attention to giant pandas, whose Chinese name literally translates as "bear cats," following their return to China. The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which runs the annual campaign, again invited the public to propose and vote on candidate characters. A total of 189,122 votes were submitted, with "bear" taking 23,346 of them.

With just 180 votes fewer than the top choice, second place went to "kome" (rice), symbolizing soaring prices of the staple crop. The selection was also linked to the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, as the character is traditionally used to represent the United States due to its phonetic resemblance to "America" when pronounced using an alternate reading. In third place was "taka" (high) with 18,300 votes, reflecting both the appointment of Sanae Takaichi as Japan's first female prime minister and the rising cost of living. The Osaka‑Kansai Expo influenced the rankings as well, with "myaku," meaning "pulse" or "network," chosen as the fourth-most popular character thanks to the event's mascot, Myaku‑Myaku. In fifth place was "ban" (numerous) as the character appears in the Japanese word for expo, or an event joined by many countries.

‘Bear’ chosen as kanji of 2025 after spike in recorded attacks | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

The Top 5:

• 熊 (kuma) — bear
• 米 (kome / bei) — rice; also used as a character representing the United States
• 高 (taka / kō) — high, elevated
• 脈 (myaku) — pulse, vein, network
• 万 (ban / man) — many, numerous; appears in the word for expo (万博, banpaku)

 

[thomas]

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