On December 12, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Society (JKAT) announced the “Kanji of the Year” at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, and the kanji representing the year 2023 was “tax” (zei sei/mitsugi), which received 5,976 votes out of 14,878 votes cast nationwide from November 1 to December 6 to take the top spot.
The reasons given by the applicants for choosing “tax” were: active discussion of tax increases throughout the year, including corporate tax, income tax, and cigarette tax; the “40,000 yen flat-rate tax cut” that was presented as a return of increased tax revenue over the past two years, which became a hot topic; and tax-related news such as the invoice system, stricter rules for Furusato tax payment, liquor tax revision, and the new NISA. The tax-related news such as the invoice system, stricter rules for the Furusato tax payment, revision of the liquor tax, and the new NISA continued.
The dedication ceremony was held at Kiyomizu-dera Temple (1-294 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto), a World Heritage site known for its Kiyomizu-no-Butai (stage of Kiyomizu).
The official page of the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation shows the ranking of the top 20, with “hot” (5571 votes) in second place, “battle” (5011 votes) in third place, “tiger” (4674 votes) in fourth place, and “win” (4653 votes) in fifth place.
© Source travel watch