Japan's Symbol of Year Nods to No-Lockdown Virus Strategy

'Mitsu' has been chosen as Japan's character of the year in an annual public ballot. (AFP)
'Mitsu' has been chosen as Japan's character of the year in an annual public ballot. (AFP)
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Japan's Symbol of Year Nods to No-Lockdown Virus Strategy

'Mitsu' has been chosen as Japan's character of the year in an annual public ballot. (AFP)
'Mitsu' has been chosen as Japan's character of the year in an annual public ballot. (AFP)

A written character that evokes everything people in Japan were urged to avoid this year -- crowds, confined spaces and close contact with others -- was on Monday voted the country's top linguistic symbol of 2020.

Although new infections have recently hit record highs, Japan has seen a relatively small coronavirus outbreak overall and never imposed a strict lockdown like those seen elsewhere in the world.

Instead, residents were strongly advised to use their own judgement and steer clear of situations described as "mitsu" -- meaning dense, crowded and close -- to limit the spread of the respiratory disease.

The social distancing message quickly gained a tongue-in-cheek popularity, with the Tokyo governor's call inspiring viral manga strips, techno remixes and even a video game.

Now "mitsu" has been chosen as the character of the year in an annual public ballot organized by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. It took around 14 percent of over 208,000 votes.

Japanese TV stations broadcast the announcement live, as Seihan Mori, master of the ancient Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, painted the character on a big white panel with an ink-soaked calligraphy brush.

"After the government asked the public to avoid crowded, poorly ventilated spaces, and places that carry the risk of close contact with strangers... many began acting with 'mitsu' always in mind," the organization said.

Other contenders in the top 10 for 2020's character, or kanji, were mostly coronavirus-related, such as illness, harm, perish and germs.

Last year's top character was "rei", used in the word "Reiwa", the name of the new imperial era.



Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
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Bull Sharks Linger in Warming Sydney Waters

A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
A man watches large waves on Bondi Beach in Sydney on July 2, 2025, as large swells and high winds hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year.

The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland.

A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour.

Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz.

"If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them."

Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database.

There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death.

Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment.

Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said.

"If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales," Lubitz said.

"So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney," he added.

"While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney."

Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south.

There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said.

Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations.