日本2018年度汉字 “灾”
In the annual vote, the public nominated this kanji character after experiencing a number of natural disasters.
“灾”字在今年的公众年度投票中胜出。2018年，日本经历了数次自然灾害。
Japan has suffered flooding, typhoons, earthquakes and heatwaves in 2018, leading the economy to shrink.
This year's symbol - pronounced like the English word "sigh" - was chosen by just fewer than 21,000 people.
The Kyoto-based Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has run the competition every year since 1995.
"North" won in 2017, and "gold" in 2016 after the Rio Olympics.