[Sublymonal]

Well, it didn't make perfect sense per se, but from reading that I think it helped me come to his reasoning.

Maybe he doesn't want the meanin of the kanji to be embedded in the brain as, say, "four" for 四. Naturally, I'll eventually need to learn to associate that kanji with よん [though I already knew that yon=four thanks to Rosetta Stone].

So, in a way, your answer was not what I was looking for, but served as an excellent gateway to the knowledge I required, and for that I thank you.

Now, it's time to change all the stinking 'flash cards' in Aniki [my SRS program].... Hopefully, there's a way to simply flip-flop 'em...