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.
The kanji points to the gold medals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, which proceeded this July after being postponed for a year and then held without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.