"2020 Survey" Predicts this year's "New Words and Popular Words Award" and "Kanji of the Year"! The top prediction for the New Words and Popular Words Award is "3 Cs (three Cs)" and the Kanji of the Year is "Wa"

2020.12.01 Press Releases
CCC MARKETING HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

-The most memorable news story of 2020 was "the outbreak of a new type of pneumonia in Wuhan, China"-

CCC MARKETING HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has conducted a "2020 Survey" using the online "T Survey" to survey 1,500 men and women aged 18 to 69.

2020 Survey Digest

■Which word is likely to be selected as this year's "New Word/Buzzword Award"?
　1st place: "The Three Cs (Crowded places)" 2nd place: "Demon Slayer" 3rd place: "Social distancing"

■Which kanji character is most likely to be chosen as "Kanji of the Year"?
　1st place “Magic”, 2nd place “Dense”, 3rd place “Illness”

■What news story made the biggest impression on you this year?
　1st place: "New type of pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China" 2nd place: "Ken Shimura passes away" 3rd place: "State of emergency declared due to COVID-19"

■What is the No. 1 TV drama this year?
　1st place: "Naoki Hanzawa" 2nd place: "My Housekeeper Nagisa-san" 3rd place: "Love Lasts Forever"

■What video genre did you watch most this year?
　1st place: "YouTube" 2nd place: "Anime" 3rd place: "Japanese movies and TV dramas"

What word is likely to be selected as this year's "New Word/Buzzword Award"?

1st place: "The Three Cs (Crowded places)" 2nd place: "Demon Slayer" 3rd place: "Social distancing"

There is only one month left in this year. The year 2020 was marked by the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis that hit the world, and not a day went by without seeing new terms like "coronavirus pandemic" and "new normal" in the news. In this T Survey, we conducted a survey on attitudes towards 2020 among 1,500 men and women aged 18 to 69 in order to find out how consumers perceive the year 2020.
First, we asked participants to predict which word they thought would be selected as the grand prize winner of this year's U-CAN New Word and Buzzword Award from among the nominees announced. Among these, the number one prediction was the "three Cs" (21.3%), which succinctly describes avoiding closed spaces, crowded places, and close contact, which increase the risk of infection with COVID-19. In second place was the popular manga "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" (21.1%), originally written by manga artist Koyoharu Gotouge. In third place was "social distancing" (19.5%), which, like the "three Cs," refers to maintaining distance between people to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. In fourth place was "stay home" (5.5%), which expresses the desire to spend time at home in a fun mood even under the state of emergency. In fifth place was "Abenomask" (4.8%), a play on the cloth masks distributed to all households by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. When we looked at the results by gender and age, we found that there were differences in the words people paid attention to, with "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" being chosen as the number one word by men in their teens to 40s, and "social distancing" being chosen as the number one word by women of all ages.

Which kanji character is most likely to be chosen as "Kanji of the Year"?

1st place “Magic”, 2nd place “Dense”, 3rd place “Illness”

Next is the "Kanji of the Year," which is announced every year at Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto on Kanji Day in December as a character that represents the state of affairs for that year. When asked to give free answers about which kanji they would choose this year, the most frequently chosen kanji was "ka" (misfortune), which stands for "coronavirus," followed by "mitsu" (closed spaces), which stands for "three Cs," followed by "byo" (disease), which stands for the novel coronavirus itself, followed by "kin" (germ), and followed by "shi" (disease), with all of the top choices being words related to the novel coronavirus.

What news story made the biggest impression on you this year?

1st place: "New type of pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China" 2nd place: "Ken Shimura passes away" 3rd place: "State of emergency declared due to COVID-19"

Next, respondents were asked to select multiple times the most memorable news story of the year (as of November 5, 2020), and the most significant event symbolizing 2020, which occurred in January, was the outbreak of a new type of pneumonia in Wuhan, China (60.7%). In second place was the death of Shimura Ken, a leading Japanese comedian who died in March from pneumonia caused by COVID-19 (56.3%), followed by the COVID-19 state of emergency declared in all prefectures in April (50.3%), in fourth place was the death of Miura Haruma, who died in July at the young age of 30 (40.6%), and in fifth place was the death of Takeuchi Yuko, a talented actress who was gaining attention but passed away in September (39.2%).

What's this year's No. 1 TV drama?

1st place: "Naoki Hanzawa" 2nd place: "My Housekeeper Nagisa-san" 3rd place: "Love Lasts Forever"

This year, it is assumed that many people have been spending time at home/staying at home, enjoying TV dramas and other shows. When asked what the No. 1 TV drama of the year (broadcast from January to September 2020) was, the overwhelming majority chose "Hanzawa Naoki" (33.0%), the popular drama starring Sakai Masato, which aired on the TBS network. It was especially popular among men, with 40% of men in their 30s to 60s choosing "Hanzawa Naoki."Coming in second was "My Housekeeper Nagisa-san" (6.7%), a drama based on a manga by Yotsuhara Friko, which was also broadcast on the TBS network. In third place was "Love Will Last Forever" (5.5%), a heart-warming love story made famous by the TBS network series "Koitsuzu." In fourth place was "MIU404" (4.7%), a detective drama starring Ayano Go and Hoshino Gen, also broadcast on the TBS network. In fifth place was "Yell" (4.1%), an NHK morning drama series based on the life of Koseki Yuji, who composed many of the most iconic music of the Showa era. Furthermore, four of the TV dramas that ranked in the top five were from the TBS network, showing that TBS has a near monopoly on the popularity of TV dramas.

What video genre did you watch most this year?

1st place: "YouTube" 2nd place: "Anime" 3rd place: "Japanese movies and TV dramas"

Finally, in 2020, video works such as "Hanzawa Naoki" and "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" dominated living rooms across the nation, but when asked what video genre they watched most this year, the top answer was "YouTube" (24.6%), with "YouTube" coming in first across all generations. We then asked those who selected "YouTube" to give an open answer as to which channels they watched. The most common answer was "NAKATA UNIVERSITY," a channel by Oriental Radio's Nakata Atsuhiko, a hugely popular educational YouTuber. This was followed by "Snow Man," a channel by a male idol group that debuted on January 22, 2020, and "Emirin Channel," a channel by former comedian Omatsu Emi. The second most popular video genre this year was "anime," with just under 20% of women in their teens and twenties saying they often watch "anime."In third place was "Japanese TV dramas," in fourth place was "foreign TV dramas," and in fifth place was "Korean TV dramas." In particular, "Korean TV dramas" accounted for 10% of women in their teens and twenties and in their fifties and sixties, demonstrating the continuing popularity of the Korean wave. Additionally, TV dramas with multiple episodes that take a long time to watch ranked third to fifth, suggesting that many people are spending their time at home watching TV dramas.

<Survey Overview>
Survey method: Internet (T Survey)
Survey period: November 13th (Friday) to November 17th (Tuesday), 2020
Survey area: Nationwide
Survey subjects: Men and women aged 18-69 (T members)
Sample size: 1,500 people

*Company names and product/service names mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.

Materials related to this matter

"2020 Survey" Predicts this year's "New Words and Popular Words Award" and "Kanji of the Year"! The top prediction for the New Words and Popular Words Award is "3 Cs (three Cs)" and the Kanji of the Year is "Wa"

Contact for inquiries regarding this matter
CCC MARKETING HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464