Some like it ‘sho’, but ‘zei’ is deemed Japan’s word of the year: ‘Tax’ trumps ‘hot’ in annual vote… as nation tries to cut taxpayer burdens amid record spending

Japan has chosen the word 'tax' as word of the year as the government tries to reduce citizens' financial burden despite spending record amounts.

The character for the word tax, “said,” was masterfully engraved on a 21-square-meter piece of paper by a skilled calligrapher at the annual ceremony held by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation on Tuesday.

Craftsman Seihan Mori, high priest of Kiyomizu-dera, the Kyoto temple where the ceremony was held, said: “The choice of taxes reminded me of the financial challenges Japan faces. How taxes are spent is under intense public scrutiny. I hope taxes are used to serve the good of people.”

The Japanese government, led by 66-year-old Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has announced tax cuts aimed at boosting consumption and easing pressure on households facing rising inflation rates and food prices.

But it has also pledged to roughly double defense spending over the next five years 10 trillion yen (£55 billion).

The character for the word tax, 'said', was masterfully engraved on a 21 square meter piece of paper by an experienced calligrapher (photo)

In 2018, Seihan Mori wrote the word for 'disaster' on the 21 square meter piece of paper

It is the second time that taxes have been chosen as word of the year. The first time was in 2014, when sales tax increased from 5% to 8%.

While about 148,000 votes were cast in the annual poll, Zei won by fewer than 6,000 votes.

The second word was sho, which means hot, and it lost by less than 400 votes.

Japan has experienced record temperatures this year, impacting the country's ecosystem, where bears refuse to hibernate in winter due to the unusually warm climate.

Sen, which means war, took third place, amid wars between Hamas, Ukraine and Russia and rising tensions between China and the rest of Asia.

Sen took first place last year after Russia invaded Ukraine and the country's former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was killed by a man using an improvised weapon.

Lower down the list were the Japanese words for “tiger,” “victory” and “ball,” all referring to Osaka's Hanshin Tigers, who this year won their first baseball league in 38 years.

Also in the top ten was zo/masu, which means “rise,” referring to the rising inflation and food prices that have hit the country this year.