Every year the Japanese people vote on what Chinese character best reflects the mood of the year. The vote is organised by the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. This year, the character for bankruptcy got the most votes. Juliet Hindell reports:

Thousands of Japanese took part in the vote to choose the Chinese character which best reflects the mood of the past year. Japanese is still written with Chinese characters.

The vote takes place very year, but this time the winner was decidedly sombre. The character, To, which forms the first syllable of the Japanese word for bankruptcy, won hands down with thirteen thousand votes.

It's not really surprising, given that in the last six weeks of this year there have been four major bankruptcies. Sanyo Securities was the first, quickly followed by the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank.

The failure of Yamaichi Securities, Japan's fourth largest brokerage, confirmed the fear that something was seriously wrong in the Japanese economy. All these household names were brought down by troubles with huge outstanding loans.

Yamaichi had borrowed the money to cover debts incurred by illegally covering favoured clients' losses on the stock market. In the third week of December the huge food company, Toshoku, closed down and more bankruptcies are expected.

It's not all gloom, however. A minority had chosen the character because it also is the one used to express defeating another team in sport; Japan's soccer team has beaten other national sides for a place in next year's World Cup tournament.

But most Japanese say that's not the meaning which immediately springs to mind. The chief priest of one of the main temples in Kyoto has written out the character in bold black calligraphy.