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Character meaning war (戦) picked as kanji of 2022

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Zelensky gets Man of The Year, Putin gets kanji of the year.

Don't they have a kanji for 'Special Miltary Operation'?

4 ( +15 / -11 )

A sad state of affairs indeed.

How about we strive for next year's character of Peace, Happiness, Prosperity, Hope, Kindness, Respect, or any number of POSITIVE characters!?

10 ( +17 / -7 )

Hopefully Kim and Xi don’t misinterpret that widely TV broadcast announcement. If no one explains them they might well read this big Kanji as a war declaration.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

I would have chosen ensō (円相, "circular form" as the kanji for the year.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensō

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

Bit depressing, but not unexpected.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Wow! Real だ!Faito!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

戦 should be the stance of the Japanese public against their real oppressors , which are the LDP but it is more like 安, an ingrained passivity.

-4 ( +9 / -13 )

What the......????

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

And this is top headline news? Press loves all this talk of war.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

It sounds like a declaration or a JT headline.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

What’s the kanji for “general strike”?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

War and weak suits japan. I would choose a Chinese’s name for Okinawa and a Russian name or Hokkaido.

-15 ( +2 / -17 )

Surprised they didn’t use the kanji for taxes or corruption.

But I guess that would get redundant.

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

What's the kanji for satrap?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Kishida and his ilk want more conflict because then it will justify their wasting of tax payers money on arms. Don't allow it to happen!

5 ( +8 / -3 )

War against who, against what and for what cause?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

How SAD, and disturbing when the masses choose war over peace, at last war mongers got their wish.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

War against who, against what and for what cause?

It's been on the news a bit, I'll fill you in on the juicy bits.

In 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine and stole and nice sunny bit of it. This year they decided that they wanted some more and so re-invaded it.

But this time they went a bit mad and just killed everyone they met, and then went really mad when the locals asked them to stop doing it.

So to answer your 3 questions; Ukraine, Ukraine, Land

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Maybe the people meant War on the economy, war within, it doesn't have to mean military war.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

What’s the kanji for inflation? That would be most appropriate.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

What’s the kanji for inflation? That would be most appropriate.

Or in your case, 'delusion'.

Maybe the people meant War on the economy, war within, it doesn't have to mean military war.

Or in your case, 'War on ignoring the War'

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Echo's of the 1930's.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

How much drama for that kanji..

It's no wonder, this pathetic world has more than 5000 years of documented wars..

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, as Japan will be wiped off the face of the earth.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I prefere " hope"! it will show that no matter what, the human kind can hope always for something better to happen!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

A Buddhist monk and a war symbol, little wonder religions are ignored by intellectuals.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

兵 would be a good one considering the defense spending increase as a reminder of what is to come.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

It's a pretty apt character for the times.

There's currently a war on afford cost of living, a war on privacy, a war on free speech, a war on the the right to choose whether or not to get an experimental jab, a war on mental health, a war on physical health, a war on truth, a war on affordable energy, a war on private property, a war on decent culture, a war on...

You can be a victim in this war, or you can fight back against the people who are waging it against you through civil disobedience and non-compliance. There's now too much at stake to just lie down and take it.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

We need more of it.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

People....' War is ugly '. I think its fair to say that Technologically humans have advance exponentially over the years but psychologically humans have not advanced for 1000s upon 1000s of years. We still think that killing our own species will sort out our problems....DOH !!!!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

This is a malicious translation. This kanji does not just mean war; battle and fight also mean. The most Japanese people today associate 戦 with a World Cup match.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

How about something original? They used this once before in my time here, I think in 2001 or sometime around when Iraq War Part II happened.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

HercolobusDec. 12  09:30 pm JST

War against who, against what and for what cause?

War or struggle against CoVid, maybe? Dealing with Kimbo's sassymouth and those rockets he likes to shoot like rubber bands by that brat kid in the back of your classroom? Or how about the Ukraine war? There's also the Tigray War, and the internal ethnic wars in Myanmar. Not very cheerful at all.

Awa no GaijinDec. 13  06:45 am JST

When Buddhist priests start writing kanji for war it can't possibly get much more dysfunctional.

War in the era of peace

Peace sells, but who's buying?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Since the character is representative of Japanese society and not what is happening in other countries then it is the wrong one.

No Japanese has spoken with me about the war in Ukraine. I was very surprised when the queen died, people approached me and offered me condolences. I don't even support the monarch. People asked me how I felt about the queen dying.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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