LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH
KYOTO, Japan — For the first time in 11 years of annual polling, the Japanese have chosen a wholly positive word to sum up their feelings about the past year.
Queried by the Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, respondents chose “love” over all other words to encapsulate their feelings about 2005. The runner-up was “reform.”
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That’s a big improvement from 2004, when the top-ranked word was “disaster.” Other past winners were “collapse,” “poison” and other manifestations of doom and gloom.
A priest skilled in calligraphy unveiled the winning word before reporters at Kyoto’s Kiyomizudera temple on Monday.
The choice appears to reflect widespread rejoicing after Princess Sayako, 36, got married.
There also has been growing fascination with Princess Aiko, 4, whose name literally means “child of love” and who seems likely to become Japan’s first reigning empress in centuries.
Japan’s image of itself as a safe and successful society has been rocked by more than a decade of recession as well as crimes, scandals and natural disasters. In 1997, “collapse” was picked after a series of high-profile bankruptcies disclosed the extent of the country’s economic malaise.
“Quake” was chosen in 1995 after the Kobe earthquake killed 6,400 people and revealed shoddy construction work. And 1998 was remembered as the year of “poison” after a housewife added arsenic to a pot of curry at a village festival, killing four.
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