Thousands take part in new year calligraphy contest in Tokyo

Thousands of people competed in a new year calligraphy contest in Tokyo, hoping to get a good start in 2019. More than 3,000 people, aged from 3 to 89, gathered to write characters at the Nippon Budokan, following Japan's New Year tradition of Kakizome – literally "first writings".

Competitors, some of whom were assigned characters depending on their age and level, were required to finish writing on two pieces of paper within the allotted 24 minutes. Winners of the annual competition will be announced at a separate ceremony on Feb 24, 2019.