Using a brush to write the single character on a wooden platform as tourists looked on at Kiyomizu temple in the ancient capital of Kyoto, chief monk Seihan Mori declared “change” to be Japan’s character of the year.The selection of the kanji character, pictured at the right, is “...an expression of the Japanese people’s wishes to see political, economic and societal changes..." as they anticipate Obama's term according to Mori.
The Kiyomizu temple dates back to 798, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633. It takes its name from the Otowa waterfall, where three channels of water drop into a pond within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills.
