Today's word is something that has been on my mind a lot since yesterday:
責任 せきにん sekinin
It means responsibility.
責任を取る せきにんをとる sekinin o toru - To take responsibility
責任者 せきにんしゃ sekininsha - The person responsible; the person in charge.
In Japan, whenever something goes wrong, especially corporate or government mishaps, someone is supposed to 責任を取る - which means to resign. Some people take it a radical step further and commit suicide - 自殺 (じさつ jisatsu), leaving a note that they did it to take responsiblity. This is a leftover from the feudal days, when a samurai was supposed to kill himself by cutting through his belly with his sword - the infamous 切腹 （せっぷく seppuku) method of suicide.
I rather think that it takes a lot more courage to really 責任を取る and remain in charge to fix whatever mess was created, but anyway....
(from Barack Obama photo stream)
A 責任者 with a whole lot of 責任.
