With a calligraphy brush, Seihan Mori, chief priest of Kiyomizudera temple in Kyoto, wrote the kanji character "shin" (new) on Friday to characterize events in 2009. The character, which was chosen from entries submitted by the public, reflects new administrations formed in Japan and the United States, among other things. The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which organizes the annual poll, was rocked by a scandal involving top executives this year. ``A character that is meaningful to our foundation was chosen," said Akio Kioi, the new chief director, in expressing his resolve to rebuild the foundation's operations.