From June through August of last year, Japan experienced its highest average temperatures on record. So the overwhelming choice of 暑 (atsu-i, sho, hot weather) as Kanji of the Year for 2010 came as no surprise. Day after sweltering day, the nation collectively moaned, "Atsui, atsui!" (「暑い、暑い!」 "It's hot!"), and then watched in disbelief as the thermometer continued to resist going down with the arrival of autumn.

In the annual Kanji of the Year poll, the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation invites the public to vote in November for the character that best symbolizes the year drawing to a close. Then it announces the top vote-getters on Dec. 12, "Kanji Day."

Many who voted for 暑 noted that their household budgets were hard hit by astronomical home-cooling costs and the high price of vegetables, which were depleted by the heat. The emotional rescue of 33 Chilean miners, trapped for over two months in temperatures reaching 35, also contributed to the vote-pulling power of 暑.