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Japan Know How archive

learn kanji

Writing & Language

The Characters the Government Signs Off On

Japan’s official character system is not one master list. Learn how the 2,136 commonly used kanji differ from the 1,026 school characters and the separate 863-character list used for personal names.

Megan Rothwell

Writing & Language

The First Hundred Kanji and Why Those

Not the school order and not the JLPT order. Which kanji repay learning first, how the readings work, and what to do with characters you only read.

Megan Rothwell