Mercari's word of the year

Every December in Japan, the Kanji of the Year grabs headlines as a single character meant to sum up the mood of the nation. Alongside that well-known tradition, there are some other indicators that can be just as revealing about the sentiment of the past 12 months, and one of them is the "Mercari Trend Word of the Year."

It's based on search trends on their platform, and top spot went to Labubu, a character created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung that surged in popularity during 2025. It even beat out Pokémon in searches, which says a lot here in Japan.

You can see the full list of "trend words" via Mercari's press release here.