Reviews
A masterpiece. Japan modernized while its literacy rate remained relatively high among countries in the kanji cultural sphere. The book neatly lays out the background to script reform—from prewar intellectuals who believed switching to a phonetic writing system was a reasonable way to adapt to a rapidly changing world, to the GHQ administration of postwar Japan—the establishment of the Toyo Kanji list, its revision into the Joyo Kanji list, the problems with these changes, and the story up to
Atsuji Tetsuji: Post-war Japanese Kanji History
This book was originally published as a standalone volume by Shinchosha in November 2010. As the author notes in the afterword, 2010 was a special year in the postwar history of Japanese kanji. After the 1,850-character List of Toyo Kanji was established in 1946 to restrict kanji, the List of Joyo Kanji, with 1,945 characters, became the standard for kanji use in 1981. Then, 29 years later, the revised Joyo Kanji list was announced in 2010, expanding the total to 2,136 characters. The author served on the Kanji Subcommittee and took part directly in the revision, and I’m grateful that they recorded the history of Japan’s kanji lists, along with their experiences and anecdotes from the revision, providing readers with valuable information. The source text for this translated edition is the paperback published by Chikuma Shobo in 2020, ten years later. In Japan, paperbacks are often reprints of popular standalone books, intended to bring them to a wider readership. Each major publisher has its own paperback series to expand its readership. The fact that this book was reissued in the Chikuma Gakugei Bunko series speaks to its popularity and value. The paperback’s obi reads, “A history of hardship and searching—it began with GHQ’s proposal to abolish kanji.”
Korean title: 전후일본한자사
Korean author: 아쓰지 데쓰지
Korean publisher: 역락
ISBN-13: 9791167427359
Reviews
A masterpiece. Japan modernized while its literacy rate remained relatively high among countries in the kanji cultural sphere. The book neatly lays out the background to script reform—from prewar intellectuals who believed switching to a phonetic writing system was a reasonable way to adapt to a rapidly changing world, to the GHQ administration of postwar Japan—the establishment of the Toyo Kanji list, its revision into the Joyo Kanji list, the problems with these changes, and the story up to
