Japan chooses ‘gold’ as kanji of the year in nod to Olympics glory – and slush fund politics

The character, chosen by public vote, has won in previous Olympic years but also reflects public anger at a damaging financial scandal inside the ruling Liberal Democratic party

The kanji character kin – which can mean gold or money – has been chosen as Japan’s word of the year to reflect the country’s medal sweep at the Paris Olympics and a damaging financial scandal inside the ruling party.

The single character, which can also be read as kane (money), was unveiled this week at Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, whose head priest, Seihan Mori, reproduced it with a huge brush on a white washi paper canvas.