First of all, we're sorry. Everybody is sorry. This was the year that everyone apologized and everyone was sorry about something. The Asahi Shimbun was sorry so many times (even when maybe they shouldn't have been) that we're omitting them from the list. There's not enough space.

We in the press were sorry to see freedom of speech and freedom of the press vanish in 2014 with enactment of the state secrets law. Goodbye, we'll miss you! The people were also sorry to see ¥60 billion ($500 million) wasted on elections that no one was really sure were needed.

"There is only one reason to call an election now, and that is the fear that things will be only worse if he waits," said Gerald L. Curtis, a specialist on Japanese politics at Columbia University, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "The expectation of political stability and an Abe administration unchallenged for six years, that so many thought just two weeks ago was the most likely scenario, is now history."