To represent the heady “change” that Obama (and then Hillary Clinton and John McCain) embraced, the “kanji of the year” folks could have chosen 化 or 改. But they chose 変, and that was undoubtedly for a reason.
Aside from “change,” 変 has a negative connotation. With the on-yomi of HEN, 変 can mean “strange” or even “mishap, disturbance.” Take, for example, this sentence:
彼は近頃少し変だ。
Kare wa chikagoro sukoshi hen da.
He acts a little strange these days.彼 (kare: he)
近頃 (chikagoro: recently) recent + timeAh, a cool compound in and of itself, or rather a cool shift in the usual function of 近 (near). In this context, 近 means “near (in time),” which is to say “recent.” As for 頃, most of us know it as “about,” but Spahn says it can also mean “time.”
少 (suko(shi): a little)
With the unprecedented election of Obama, the way Japanese prime ministers have been flitting in and out of office, and the haywire stock market, 変 must have seemed a perfect fit.
By the way, as I glanced at 変 compounds in Spahn just now, I found something 変. Check out this inverted pair:
変種 (henshu: freak of nature; ka(wari)dane: novelty, exceptional
case) strange + variety
種変 (tanegawa(ri): half-brother/half-sister by a different father;
new strain, hybrid variety) variety + seed
