In this post I want to take a look at the kanji that best represented Japan in 2013, starting with #1 and working my way down. There were actually way more than seven “top” kanji, but I thought things started getting a bit shaky so I stopped there. Alright, let’s start with the best. You already know what it is!

#1 輪 (Rin/Wa/Ring)

The kanji 輪 (りん・ring) received 9,518 votes making it this year’s kanji winner. There are a couple of reasons why it was chosen:

1. The five rings of the Olympic Games. Tokyo won the bid for the 2020 Olympics this year, so there’ll be a lot of rings all over the place for the next six years.
2. The hope for “circle/ring of support” expansion for those in recovery areas after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

So who chose this kanji to be Japan’s number one kanji of 2013? The award itself is actually put out by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society every year and has been going on for the last 19 years. Does the name of the society sound familiar? It should. They’re the ones who created the world’s most terrifying and ultimate kanji test: Kanji Kentei.

They don’t really make the decision, though. People send in votes on what they think the best kanji for the year is. That means there are runner-up kanji to look at. To me, this is a great way to look back on the year to see what happened… not only news, but emotions as well. Since one kanji can mean multiple things to different people based on context, it’s a fun way to take a trip through tiiimmmmmeeee~!

#2 楽 (Raku)

Although this kanji typically refers to concepts such as “ease” or “fun” or “enjoyment,” this time the kanji 楽 is referring to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the Japanese baseball team that won the Nippon Professional Baseball League Championship, besting the evil Yomiuri Giants. It probably also helped that this was their first championship. If only the Mariners could take note. *sigh*

They also had ace Masahiro Tanaka on their team, who went an incredible 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA. He came in to close the final game of the championship series after pitching 160 pitches in a loss the day before. In case you’re not a baseball fan, I can tell you now… that’s nuts. So, a combination of Tanaka’s exploits along with being winners of the NPB Championship garnered enough votes for 楽 to come in 2nd place.

#3 倍 (Bai/Times)

If you read our post on the Japanese memes of 2013, you may notice something familiar… Meme #3, “__bai gaeshi da!” This comes from a very popular 2013 TV drama, Hanzawa Naoki. The main character (Hanzawa Naoki) works at the Tokyo Chuo Bank and climbs his way up the corporate ladder. On the way, he meets up with corruption, scandal, and nasty people. People do bad things to him… but, he has a way to deal with it. Anything that someone does to him he returns X amount of times.

yararetara yarikaesu, __baigaeshi da!
If I am wronged, I will return it X times!

This is a tagline all throughout the show. The amount of times he threatens to return the punishment goes up and up. 2x. 5x. 10x. 100x. The guy is nuts, to say the least, though this show did really, really well in Japan, which may explain how the kanji 倍 (which is a multiplier, i.e. 2x, 5x, and 10x) made it to third place.

I can’t imagine what this kanji will do next year for being wronged by only receiving third place.

#4 東 (Tou/Higashi/East)

A lot has happened in the “East” part of Japan. Tokyo (東京, the Eastern Capital) was chosen to host the 2020 Olympics. Also, the Touhoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (Touhoku means northeast) won the NPB championships. It was all about East Japan this year. None of that west Japan garbage. Eww. Gross.

#5 風 (Fuu/Kaze/Wind)

The kanji 風, aka “wind,” was voted into the #5 slot due to the large number of typhoons the country / world experienced. There were 31 total storms, 13 typhoons, and 5 super typhoons this year (worldwide). It was an unusually bad typhoon season, which I guess is why “wind” is on people’s minds this year.

#6 決 (Ketsu/Decision)

Wow, can’t stop thinking about the Olympics, can you people? The kanji 決 (decision) comes from the decision that Tokyo would host the 2020 Olympics. It also comes from making it into the World Cup, Mt. Fuji becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and various other decisions being made in or about Japan. If you ask me, voting for this kanji is a cop out, because seriously, there are always decisions being made.

#7 今 (Ima)

Another kanji that came from 2013′s best Japanese memes, 今 (ima/now) comes from 今でしょう and refers to Osamu Hayashi, a teacher who was in a commercial for Toshin High School, which is a cram school focused on preparing students for university entrance exams. In the commercial, Toshin High School shows actual teachers teaching. Osamu Hayashi struck a cord with all of Japan due to his catchphrase:

itsu yaru ka? Ima deshou!
When will you do it? Right now!

This got turned into all kinds of other things, including a commercial for Toyota.

It’s also a good message for people, I think. The idea is to get people off their lazy butts to go do something they should be doing. It’s a good message for any year’s kanji, I think.

Your Kanji Of 2013?

I feel like everybody has their own special kanji of 2013. Imagine you’re your own kanji-using country and inside of you is an entire Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society with a ton of blood vessels, organs, molecules, cells, and so on who vote for their kanji of the year, based off your own life and experiences. What would your kanji of 2013 be? I’ve made a list of Tofugu’s Kanji of the year.

#1 鰐 (Alligator)

WaniKani‘s 1 year anniversary took place at some point, and we finished the main 50 levels. A lot of new features have come to WaniKani too, including client-side reviews (which means near-instant answer validation), vacation mode, new lessons, custom notes, and so much more has been added. There’s a long way to go, but this was the year of the Crabigator for sure.

#2 蟹 (Crab)

Because you can’t have a Crabigator without the crab.

#3 豚 (Pig)

The Tofugu team went to the Philippines to meet up with another member of the Tofugu team, Aya (our incredible illustrator). We ate a ton of lechon, which is made from pig.

#4 熊 (Bear)

2013 introduced the EtoEto Bear, possibly also known as Kumaman, which is the mascot of a product we haven’t quite released yet. There was a crappy little test version of the site where we could get some feedback and try things out, but I think we’ll see 熊 rise in the ranks of Tofugu’s Kanji Of The Year awards in 2014 when he reveals his full form… which could get gross, considering his lack of pants. For now, you see him in a lot of post illustrations.

#5 所 (Place)

We got a place! Or, an office, but I couldn’t really think of a good kanji for “office.” Moving out of my apartment and into an actual place was one of the nicest things we did this year. Plus, giant whiteboard walls and a mural. Hard to beat that.

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There you go, kind of boring but we’ll take what we can get. Now think about your own personal kanji of the year. What kanji best represents your year and why? Post the kanji, its meaning, and an explanation in the comments below.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[2560 x 1600] [1280 x 800]

Sources:

• 2013 Kanji Of The Year: “Rin” Takes The Ring
• Kanji Of The Year
• 2013 年「今年の漢字 年「今年の漢字®」第 1 位は 「輪」

Another gasbag movie-nerd is gonna talk about the American version of The Ring and how it pales in comparison next to its seminal Japanese horror inspiration Ringu (or vice-versa). Maybe he’ll talk about how one of the ghost kids was spookier than the other, or address the physical differences between the corpses of the poor hapless teenagers. I can’t waaaaaaiiiit…

Please change the channel.

Wrong, pal.

Rather than join the ranks of those who prefer to get hung up on the surface-level differences between the Japanese film and its American counterpart, I believe each movie is necessarily different to serve its own unique purpose. These differences help us to better understand which aspects of Japanese culture bleed (hehe) into Western culture, and what just doesn’t translate. And that’s why we’re all here, right? To not only celebrate Japanese culture, but to figure out why it draws us in?

Disclaimer: if you’ve never seen Ringu or The Ring and don’t want the experience of watching either ruined for you forever, I would recommend not reading this. I would also recommend immediately watching one or both of these movies because what the heck are you doing man?

Ringu (1998)

Stop looking for the ring dude, you’re IN it.

Hideo Nakata’s Ringu is a horror story that is universally enjoyable and terrifying, while its roots are uniquely Japanese. The movie is an adaptation of Koji Suzuki’s novel of the same name, which was inspired in part by the ghost story Banchou Sarayashiki, or the story of Lady Okiku (lots of inspiration going on here). There are several versions of Okiku’s story, but they all involve her being thrown down a well after losing one of ten valuable plates belonging to an important samurai family. Legend says that her ghostly voice can be heard deep within the well counting up from one as she rechecks the plates. Stopping short at nine, she lets loose a heart-stopping shriek before her specter rises from the well in search of the missing tenth plate.

In Ringu, several young people are mysteriously dying after watching a strange videotape. A reporter, Reiko Asakawa, discovers the tape and learns that it is cursed by the vengeful spirit of a young girl who died after being thrown into a well. After watching the tape, Asakawa comes to find that in seven days the girl will rise from the well and kill her. Counting the days…counting plates…rising from the well…wait a minute, this is starting to sound familiar!

The Ring (2002)

Someone’s ears were burnin’.

Now for the American version. After several teenagers are mysteriously killed, a reporter, Rachel Keller, discovers that an eerie videotape contains the culprit. Within the tape is the vengeful spirit of a young girl who…yeah you get the point.

Gore Verbinski’s The Ring was wholly inspired by the international success of Ringu. This is a story that has played out many times in cinema history: one country hits a goldmine, so it’s only natural that other countries want to emulate their success. The thing that separates The Ring from these thousands of other remakes that came before and after is that it was was remade incredibly well. Love it or hate it, The Ring affected people the world over just like Ringu had done before. What was miraculous about the American Ring however was that it was also effective and popular for different reasons than its predecessor, even though the plot is more or less exactly the same. Many scenes and situations were altered so that they would translate better for American movie-goers, while some remain exactly the same. Within these changes and similarities are the keys we need for understanding how Ringu and The Ring jointly channel / filter the Japanese and Western cultures.

Youth Culture

After the opening of both films, the protagonist goes to the wake of her niece whom we just watched die. Within these scenes, the protagonist talks to a group of schoolgirls who are mumbling something or other about a video, about other kids who have died, that kind of cheerful stuff. But these groups of schoolgirls are much different from each other in the American and Japanese versions.

In Ringu, the girls are dressed in school uniforms, representing the all-girls’ school the deceased girl went to. They are quiet, timid, and seem a bit embarrassed when Asakawa approaches to ask them what they know about her niece’s death. With some regret, they tell her about the cursed video and other deaths they’ve heard about.

In The Ring, these same girls are not exactly in uniform, nor in appropriate funeral garb to boot. They are on the porch of their deceased friend’s house smoking cigarettes and gabbing amongst themselves. When Rachel approaches the girls to gather info, they act coldly and all but ignore her (buncha real jerks, they were). Rachel feels some need to prove that she’s not some old fuddy duddy to these teens, so she pulls out a cigarette herself and starts to talk about how she and an old friend used to get high together. The girls still offer up little to no information.

What does this say about Western youth culture, and the level of respect that is normally shown to our elders? Of course there are disrespectful young people everywhere, even in Japan. But doesn’t this drastic change to the film make sense in the context of our differing cultures (which is ding ding ding what we’re talkin’ about here)?

In Japanese culture, it is important to be respectful to people in a higher position, especially those who are older than you (even by a couple years, senpai!). So even though the girls obviously don’t wish to tell Asakawa about the tape, they seem to feel it’s necessary based solely on the fact that she is an older woman who has asked something of them. So respectful…bad kids everywhere take note!

A Father’s Responsibility

We are introduced to the fathers of the protagonist’s children in exactly the same way in both films: while walking to school in the rain, a boy nearly walks into a shady looking man on the sidewalk. For a brief moment their eyes meet, then they part ways and walk in opposite directions. There is no father-son connection in either movie.

The father in The Ring, young Noah, is an immature airhead. There are moments where we are able to see that he wants to be around for his son, but strong self-doubt and a shaky past with his own father keeps him from being around. Strong family ties are not exactly the pinnacle of Western culture. Is it possible Noah’s character might represent a vicious cycle of broken fathers begetting broken sons?

The father in Ringu, Ryuji Takayama, is an accomplished professor at a local university. We are never given too much history into their romantic past, but Takayama and Asakawa’s marriage obviously didn’t work out too well. Mr. Big Shot Professor seems to live only for his work, publishing essays and constantly scribbling mathematical equations down. His son is of little concern to him. Takayama has a different set of priorities. It’s work before family – you saw this recently in our What It’s Like Dating A Japanese Guy post.

In Japan, careers are drilled into the minds of almost everyone at a young age as being vitally important. It is not uncommon to hear about people overworking themselves for coveted positions in the workforce. A father who values his work over his family is a common trope that resonates deeply in Japan, where work ethic is so heavily cemented in the culture. Professor Takayama is a harrowing example of valuing work over family.

While both fathers have the same character arc, act in similar fashion, and endure the same fate, the reasoning behind their actions are surprisingly different, given where they come from.

A Mother’s Love

Awwwwww-er I mean-Ewwwwww

Unlike everything I’ve talked about so far, the mothers in both films are the only characters that are perfectly in sync: no matter where you are in the world, a mother’s love is universal and enduring.

Asakawa and Rachel are both called to action when they realize the validity of the cursed tape, but are only one hundred percent spurred on when their children watch it too. Given, motherly instinct is nothing new…unless it’s also directed at a child that is not biologically your own.

As the mothers race against the clock to uncover the mysteries of Sadako (Ringu) and Samara (The Ring), a growing sense of sympathy begins to emerge behind their actions. In the corpses of these children, the women see young girls who died just wanting to be loved. Embracing a skeleton dripping with goo is no small feat. I imagine it would take a whole lotta love and understanding to hug a corpse.

Don’t think that I’ve forgotten that Sadako and Samara were killed by their father and mother (respectively). The reason I haven’t included them at all is because they are not representative of parenthood, they are simply used as devices in the narrative. When effort was put into showing that they were not biological parents in both films, I think I can say this with some certainty.

Sadako and Samara end up being completely nuts and evil, but before they go off the deep end, at least they unwittingly show us something beautiful about parental instinct and motherly love.

Hopefully, without getting too spooked, you learned something about love or vicious cycles. Or cigarettes. The lessons in Ringu and The Ring are seemingly endless, right? (Hint: don’t watch TV ever again.)

Japanese films that are remade for Western audiences are rarely as good as Verbinski’s The Ring, but they all present opportunities to compare and contrast our cultures. What other Japanese film remakes have you seen that caused you to notice how different or similar our cultural differences are? What did I leave out in The Ring or Ringu that also bears mentioning in this regard? Let me know in the comments!