Kanji

Ah Kanji. As if trying to learn hiragana and katakana were not difficult enough, even on those good hiragana/katakana days, you always have the impossible-to-master kanji. So cool. So intimidating. So hopeless.

Oh well. Over there to the left, we're told, is the kanji for hope.

As a recent Kansai Timeout article put it, "As a means of communication for the Japanese, kanji has always been problematic, one of the few borrowings from the Chinese that might have been better off returned." Perhaps a bit harsh, but we certainly can relate. That said, the 2000-year old writing system is not likely going anywhere anytime soon.

For an interesting collection of arguments on the upside of Kanji, check out this post.

Our Kanji continues to be limited to some of the familiar place names, some characters from the names of Mike's co-workers, the four directions, and some basic signage. We can hope all we want...but it's going to take a heck more than that to progress any further!