If there's one thing to be sure of in Japan these days, it's that by the end of the year you will have a prime minister different from the one you started out with. This year was the sixth year in succession to follow this pattern. Somewhat differently, though, this year there was a general election — not only the first one in three years but also the first one since the triple catastrophe in 2011.

This focus on politics in 2012 is also reflected in the year's buzzwords, as announced at the beginning of the month — by mere coincidence only about two weeks ahead of the elections. (See Mark Schreiber's summary published on this page two weeks ago). Quite unusually, the Top 10 hits this year contain no fewer than three terms from the domain of politics.

First, there has been daisankyoku (第三極), referring to the occurrence of a "third force" in Japan's political landscape besides the new and old — and some would say, ancient — governing Jiminto (自民党, Liberal Democratic Party) and their opponents from Minshuto (民主党, Democratic Party of Japan). Given the plethora of parties that declared themselves representatives of this third category, it might be wise to speak of forces rather than a force.