Sodanē.
What an innocent, carefree year it must have been to spawn so bland a word of the year. It has a nice ring to it, especially when spoken with the Hokkaido lilt the women's curling team — surprise bronze medalists — gave it during February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. So what if all it means is, "That's right"? What's wrong with right? Let 2018, the Year of the Dog, end as it began — on a positive note.
What else was good? Speaking of dogs and beginnings: Sony's robot dog Aibo was a big hit at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The cameras, sensors and chips that compose its nervous system make it perhaps the smartest pet on the planet. Otherwise, Japan's presence at the annual exhibit was deemed disappointing, a symptom of the nation's relatively low AIQ (artificial intelligence quotient) — one sign among many of the developed world traveling in one direction, and Japan, for better or for worse, in another. More on that shortly.