Looking Back on 2013 From Japan

New Year’s Eve is a good time to look back and remember the events of the past year. For Japan, 2013 included many happy events, including Mt. Fuji’s official registry as a World Heritage Site, Tokyo’s winning of the 2020 Olympics, and some hopeful signs that Japan might actually be starting to emerge from 15 years of deflation. There was sadness, too, including the ten Japanese engineers who were killed in the Algeria hostage crisis, the death of Anpanman creator Takashi Yanase, and the suicide of Fuji Keiko, mother to singer Utada Hikaru. According to Yahoo Japan’s annual search term ranking, the most talked-about subjects throughout the year included Abenomics, the hit game Puzzles and Dragons and the ongoing boom of yuru-chara, the creepy-cute giant plush characters that promote the various regions around Japan. The most talked-about people in 2013 included half-Japanese, half-French news anchorwoman Takizawa Crystal, who won the Olympics for Japan with her charm and beauty, and also by being the only Japanese person fluent in French, Miyazaki Hayao, who “retired” from filmmaking for the 37th time, and super sexy model Mitsu Dan, who was everywhere this year.

Some of the people who did stuff in Japan in 2013.