World's heritage Kiyomizu temple priest Seihan Mori puts the finishing touch on a caligraphy with Chinese character "hen", meaning "change" at his temple in Kyoto. After helping¹ Barack Obama sweep to victory in the US election, the president-elect's motto of "change" was Friday declared character of the year by a monk² at one of Japan's most revered³ temples.

After helping Barack Obama sweep to victory in the US election, the president-elect's motto of "change" was Friday declared character of the year by a monk at one of Japan's most revered temples.

Using a calligraphy⁴ brush to write the single character on a wooden platform as tourists looked on, Seihan Mori, chief monk at Kiyomizu temple in the ancient capital of Kyoto, declared "change" to be Japan's character of the year.

The event was hosted by a Kyoto-based group that promotes the use of "kanji," the Chinese characters used in the Japanese language.

The public sent in 111,200 nominations⁵ for the kanji of the year.

Of those, a majority 5.42 percent endorsed⁶ "change," followed by "gold," suggesting the Beijing Olympics, and "fall" to reflect the global market plunge⁷.

"I think it is an expression of the Japanese people's wishes to see political, economic and societal changes, as they were impressed by Mr. Obama's message of change," Mori said.

He added that the term's significance also came into prominence⁸ because of the world's growing attention to the impact of climate change.

The Japan Kanji Aptitude⁹ Testing Foundation has been conducting a poll on the year's kanji each year since 1995.

Last year’s top choice was 'Nise' (fake).

帮助奥巴马赢得总统大选的“变(change)”字于上周五当选日本2008年度汉字。这一结果于当天在日本最著名的寺庙之一由一名僧人公布。

当天，位于日本京都的清水寺游客云集，在众人的围观下，住持森清范在一个木板上挥毫写下了一个“变”字，宣布其当选日本今年的年度汉字。

年度汉字评选活动由京都的一个日语汉字推广团体举办，今年共收到了来自公众的11.12万份提名。

其中，“变（change）”的提名居多，占总数的5.42%，其次是体现日本在北京奥运会上（获得骄人战绩）的“金（gold）”以及反映全球经济衰退的“落（fall）”。

森清范住持说：“正如为奥巴马的求变理念所打动一样，这体现了日本人期待看到国内的政治、经济和社会各方面发生改变的一种愿望。”

他说，“变”字的当选还反映了全球对气候变化影响的关注。

日本汉字能力鉴定协会从1995年开始，每年都会评选日语中的年度汉字。

去年的年度汉字是“伪（nise）”字。