The kanji character for kin (金), which means gold or money, has been selected as the character that best summarizes the year, a Kyoto-based academic organization announced Monday.
Japan’s athletes won a record number of gold medals — 27 in all — at the Games, smashing the country’s previous record of 16 set at the 1964 Tokyo Games and again in Athens in 2004.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...in-kanji-2021/
The character was chosen by public vote. Kin won with a mere 10,422 votes out of a total of 223,773. It beat out wa (輪) ("ring") for the top spot by a mere 118 votes. This was the fourth victory for kin since the custom of choosing an annual kanji began in 1995.