KYOTO - The Kanji of the Year for 2025 was announced at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto on December 12th, with the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation selecting the character for bear for the first time after nationwide sightings, record-high damage and injuries.
At Kiyomizu, Seihan Mori, the chief priest, brushed the character in large strokes across a sheet of traditional Japanese paper measuring roughly 1.5 meters tall and 1.3 meters wide. The annual event began in 1995 and marks its 31st edition this year, with submissions gathered through the association’s website and postcards from across the country. Out of 189,122 total entries, bear received 23,346 votes.
Bear-related incidents had a deep impact on daily life throughout 2025, as sightings spread into urban areas, forcing the cancellation of events and temporary school closures. Attention also centered on the return of four pandas from Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, to China.
The second-most selected character was rice, which trailed the top choice by only 180 votes and reflected both the surge in rice prices and the inauguration of U.S. President Trump. Third place went to high, associated with persistent inflation and the rise of Sanae Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female prime minister.
As 2025 enters its final weeks, Kiyomizu Temple once again served as the stage for the announcement. Among those predicting the outcome was Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, who said, without breaking from her train of thought, "I thought it would be one of these two, and I really believed it had to be one or the other. This year in politics began with rice, and in the second half it led to the establishment of the Takaichi administration, whose approval rating thankfully remains high, though rice prices are also still high."
The character unveiled shortly after 2 p.m. was bear, selected against a backdrop of rising encounters nationwide that pushed both the number of victims and fatalities to record highs. Rice followed in second place after reaching its highest average price on record, while high came in third, symbolizing both Takaichi’s historic premiership and the broader squeeze of rising consumer prices.
Source: Kyodo
