Several words have been nominated for The Trendy Words Awards in Japan. The Trendy Words Awards, which stareted in 1945 by linguistic authorities, determines the words that reflect public opinion and trends the best in that year, and honors the peson who have popularized them. The followings are some of this year's trendy words.
Hanikami Oji -Hanikami means shy, Oji means a prince. It's a nickname of a young golfer, Ryo Ishikawa. When he won the first prize of the professional golf competition this spring, he was only 15 years old, and it was the youngest record in he world. He has made The Guinness Book of Record recently. A sports reporter named this shy boy Hanikami Oji. He is now the one of the most popular sports players.
KY-KY stands for Kuki Yomenai in Japanese. Kuki means an atomosphere or situation, and Yomenai means being not able to sense or notice something. We call people KY those who behave a bit differently from the others. Mainly young people like to use this word.
Donkan Ryoku-Donkan means insensitive, and Ryoku means a power or an ability. This word was first use as a title of the book written by Jun-ichi Watanabe, a famous writer. He says that if you want to live a comfortable life, you should be insensitive to other's opinions sometimes. However, the more popular the book became, the more people were inclined to use the word in various scenes. For instance, when former prime minister Jun-ichiro Koizumi mentioned diplomacy, he said we had better to have Donkan Ryoku toward foreign countries.
It is interesting that KY and Donkan Ryoku have been chosen in spite of their oppsite meanings. It might be said that Japanese people are not sure what to do. We have beem wondering how to cope with circumstances which have been changing rapidly. I think the most important thing for Japanese people is confidence. We need to have a strong mind.
