As 2025 draws to a close, it can be hard to summarize the headlines, political movements, cultural phenomena, and other new stories that defined the year for Japan. There were major international cultural events like Osaka’s World Expo 2025. and the Japanese political world welcomed its first-ever female prime minister. And yet, the slow build of wildlife incidents – one at a time, over the weeks – has also taken a toll on the mental health of the country. Events big and small have deeply affected people’s lives across Japan, and amid it all, the Japanese public selected a single kanji character to represent the year. So, which character has been chosen as the symbolic “Kanji of the Year” for 2025?

Taking First Place: The “Bear” (熊), Japan’s Surprise Guest

A choice nobody would have seen coming at the start of the 2025 – bear sightings began to slowly rise towards the end of the year, emerging across the country. While bears have always been present in Japan, their habitats have long been confined mainly wooded mountainous regions – a danger for hikers in secluded areas, perhaps, but not an everyday threat. Things have been changing in recent months, however, as Japan’s bears have begun to range further, turning up alarmingly close to urban residential areas. This has resulted in a spike in accidents, including deaths and injuries, as well as the less major but still problematic issue of agricultural losses. Bears have been causing tangible impacts on people’s daily lives and local economies, but on the other hand, they’ve also prompted many in Japan to reexamine broader issues, including the state of local wildlife habitats, food shortages caused by climate change, and ecological imbalances brought about by the continued expansion of human living spaces.

Japan’s Most Beloved Bears’ Farewell

Aside from the wild bears causing havoc, the kanji for bear was also chosen in honor of a series of bittersweet panda bear goodbyes. Japan has long been a happy recipient of China’s panda diplomacy, but in 2025, four giant pandas residing at a park in Wakayama Prefecture were officially returned to China, and the giant pandas who have become a symbol of Ueno Zoo are also scheduled to be returned early in 2026. The general public’s deep love for the pandas has turned into a sense of futile melancholy, as Japan sadly gets ready to enter a panda-free era.

Between the fear and frustration felt towards wild bears, and the nostalgic sense of loss felt towards the homeward-bound pandas, this year the symbolism of the kanji for “bear” reverberated in various ways for the Japanese public.

What Is the “Kanji of the Year”?

Held annually since 1995, the “Kanji of the Year” is a nationwide initiative run by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, with the aim of offering a chance to reflect on the past year, distilling all the events into a single character. Each December, the foundation offers a public poll (these days votes are collected online), and the top 20 kanji characters are announced. The kanji that receives first place, with the most votes in total, is revealed publicly through a live calligraphy event performed by the head priest at Kyoto’s famous Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Condensing the social memory of an entire country over the course of a whole year means that kanji like “金” (money) and “災” (disaster) have made multiple appearances over the years, but sometimes a cultural phenomenon helps mark a year for the ages.

Top Results From the 2025 “Kanji of the Year” Vote

What stood out to you in 2025? In Japan, bears may have taken first place, but some of the other top contenders were also interesting choices. The character “rice” (米) is a call back to the year’s serious rice shortage, while both “pulse” (脈) and “ten thousand” (万) may seem somewhat impenetrable to an English speaker, but in Japanese they evoke the Osaka–Kansai World Expo and its mascot, Myaku-Myaku. In 6th place, the kanji for change (変) references major political and technological shifts, while the kanji for woman (女) came in at 8th place – obviously pointing to Japan’s new woman prime minister. Chosen by the people, these kanji outline the overall landscape of Japanese society in 2025, leaving behind a symbolic way to remember the year.

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