At the end of each year, Japan chooses a “Kanji of the Year”.
2024’s winner was 金, meaning “gold” or “money”.
One reason is that 2024 was the year of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, in which Japan won gold medals.
金メダル (kin medaru) = gold medal
On a less positive note, Japanese economic news was dominated by the fact that the yen remains low compared to other currencies.
お金 (o-kané) = money
And many Japanese citizens had cause for complaint when income tax was raised during the summer of last year.
税金 (zei-kin) = tax
The calligraphy in the image is a one-off and is available from my Etsy store here
Calligraphy by Vicky 