The kanji of the year (今年の漢字, Kotoshi no kanji) is a character chosen by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (財団法人日本漢字能力検定協会, Zaidan hōjin Nihon Kanji Nōryoku kentei kyōkai) through a national ballot in Japan, starting in 1995.
The character with the most votes, selected to represent the events of that year, is announced in a ceremony on December 12 (Kanji Day) at Kiyomizu Temple.
Japan also holds an annual Word of the year contest called "the New Word/Trendy Phrase Award [ja]" (Shingo ryūkōgo taishō), sponsored by the Jiyu Kokuminsha [ja] publisher (by U-CAN [ja] since 2004).
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