Tama-chan the seal became a star on Japanese TV. (Jiji)

A panel of judges recently selected the 10 trendiest words or phrases of 2002 and awarded prizes to people who coined them or helped bring them to prominence. Sponsored by Jiyukokuminsha, a publishing company that produces dictionaries of modern Japanese, these awards have been presented every year since 1984. The selection of the words always attracts plenty of attention, because the choices are seen as a reflection of the events and currents of the preceding 12 months. 2002 was no exception. Here we introduce some of the terms of the year chosen by the judges. First prize was shared between two terms, Tama-chan and World Cup (Nakatsue). The panel decided that it was impossible to separate these two contenders in terms of their diffusion throughout society and the fondness people feel for them.

Bearded Seal Takes Share of Grand Prix
Tama-chan is the nickname given to a bearded seal that appeared in August 2002 in the Tama River along its lower reaches, where it runs between Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefectures. Bearded seals usually live in the Arctic, although ice floes sometimes carry them as far south as Hokkaido (41.21 degrees to 45.33 degrees north latitude). It is highly unusual for one of these animals to reach Tokyo or Kanagawa (35 degrees to 36 degrees north latitude), which are washed by the warm southerly Japan Current, let alone to enter Tokyo Bay and swim up the Tama.

As if that was not enough to endear the seal to the public, it then proceeded to display its cute behavior, sleeping on the riverbank, basking in the sun, jumping into the river, and swimming around. It also made its way to several other rivers in Yokohama. Regular appearances on daily TV news updates cemented the seal's popularity, and it was soon given the nickname Tama-chan, after the river where it first showed up. At a ceremony to present the word awards, a man from Kawasaki City who took the first video footage of the seal to a TV station and the TV reporter credited with naming it both received commemorative plaques.

Mountain Village That Captured Nation's Hearts
The other winner of the grand prix was, in full, World Cup (Nakatsue), referring to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea from May 31 to June 30, 2002. As both the host nations performed better than expected - the Japanese team reaching the second round and the South Koreans achieving a remarkable fourth-place finish - the two countries were abuzz with soccer talk throughout the tournament. It is therefore no surprise that World Cup was chosen as one of the year's top buzzwords.

But why does the word Nakatsue (site is Japanese only) appear alongside World Cup? This is the name of the small village in Oita Prefecture that played host to the Cameroon team's pretournament training camp, one of 16 localities around Japan to host such a camp. Nakatsue was deemed to be deserving of inclusion in the award because the village caught the public's imagination with the way it welcomed the African players.

Some 84 cities, towns, and villages applied to host training camps for World Cup teams, so the competition was quite fierce. Nakatsue, the smallest of the candidate locations with a population of just 1,300, made the most of its meager resources in lobbying Cameroon's soccer authorities. In the end, they were won round by the village's "quiet environment and perfect grass."

All did not run smoothly, however. Although the Cameroonian squad was scheduled to arrive in Nakatsue on May 18, it did not land at Fukuoka International Airport until May 23, five days late, shortly before midnight. It was in the wee hours of the morning when the team finally pulled into Nakatsue. The villagers were nonetheless practically all on hand for the welcoming ceremony, which began at 3:30 AM.

Some of the events the village had planned had to be canceled because of a lack of time, but the Cameroon team did everything in its power to repay the sincere enthusiasm of the villagers, including playing a practice match against a team of local schoolchildren. A mutual fondness developed between the team and the village, and this friendship became the subject of nationwide interest. Nakatsue Mayor Yasumu Sakamoto accepted the plaque at the word-award ceremony.

Slugger's Monster Nickname
Also among the buzzwords for 2002 was Godzilla, which was not among the top 10 but received a special prize. This is the nickname of Hideki Matsui, one of the top sluggers in Japanese pro baseball, whose recent transfer to the New York Yankees of the US Major League dominated the sports pages in late 2002 and into the New Year. At a press conference in New York on January 14 Matsui said that he would like to be known as Godzilla in the Majors, too, so it looks like this word will continue to be a focus of Japanese hopes in 2003.