When the ÐÂÕZ?Á÷ÐÐÕZ´óÙp (Shingo, Ry¨±k¨­go Taish¨­, New Words and Buzzwords Awards) were announced last week, the word on everyone¡¯s lips was ... ¡°omicron.¡±

Well, in Japan it was the ¥ª¥ß¥¯¥í¥óÖê (omikuron kabu, omicron variant) that everyone was talking about, along with ¶Éº½½ûÖ¹ (tok¨­ kinshi, travel bans), Èë¹ú½ûÖ¹ (ny¨±koku kinshi, entry bans) and even ¸»Ê¿É½‡Š»ð (Fuji-san funka, Mount Fuji eruption) thanks to a pair of earthquakes near the mountain on Friday that made people anxious.

As these situations have all yet to really pan out, perhaps some of them will be nominated as next year¡¯s buzzwords ¡ª but I really hope not.