World Events
Former Vice President Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States. More than 200 million people are infected with COVID-19. The military stages a coup d'etat in Myanmar and proceeds with an armed crackdown. The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are held after being postponed by one year. Vaccination against COVID-19 spreads in Japan and abroad, but mutant strains rage. Fumio Kishida becomes the 100th Prime Minister of Japan in October.
Graphic Design's Events
JAGDA changes its name to Japan Graphic Design Association Inc. Ryoji Tanaka receives the 23rd Yusaku Kamekura Design Award. Koga Hirano (b. 1938), Masayoshi Nakajo (b. 1933), and Hiroki Taniguchi (b. 1957) pass away.
JAGDA New Designer Award
Ryuichi Kawajiri（b.1982） Toru Kase（b.1987） Arata Kubota（b.1981）
ADC Grand Prix
N/A
TDC Grand Prix
Gento Matsumoto The Constitution of JAPAN
Media
The company Facebook changes its name to Meta. The movie "Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time" is released. The Netflix drama "Squid Game" becomes a global hit. The number of downloads of the vertical-scrolling manga app Piccoma in Japan exceeds 30 million this year alone.
Culture
Similar to the previous year, Amazon Japan sales increase 15.9% due to the long time staying at home resulting from the pandemic. Environmentally friendly services and products increase, and the use of “mai botoru” (personal bottles) becomes widespread. Calls for gender equality intensify, and initiatives demonstrating new values with the SDGs at their core draw public interest. New terms such as "oya gacha” (parent gacha: the idea that children do not get to choose their parents) and "Generation Z" emerge.
Japanese Buzzword Award
Riaru nito-ryu (real two-sword-style fighter) / Showtime (Los Angeles Angels baseball player Shohei Ohtani)
Word of the Year
Vax insurrection（ADS）
Hit Items
Maritozzo (confectionery), Kirin Ichiban Shibori Sugar Zero (beverage), and Country Ma'am Chocomamire (confectionery)
Pop Music
Japanese Music Kaze Fujii: “Kirari" Ado: “Usseewa" Awesome City Club: “Mochiron” (Of Course) Yuuri: “Dorai Furawa” (Dried Flower)
Western music BTS: "Butter" 24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior: "Mood" Doja Cat feat. SZA: "Kiss Me More"
2021
令和3年
