My answer to the thread is simply: No. Japan has used Kanji for years (counting in thousands, I believe). If the argument is the Kanji originate from Chinese characters, so what? English uses words from Latin, as does German, I believe. German also uses words from English, & vice-versa. If your struggling to learn them, find an easier way or give up. I haven't started to learn Kanji's yet, though I know certain one's e.g. yama

These are just my views, of course. People are entitled to argue their point. So if anything here is opposed, I'll not take offence if someone disagree's. :)

Ditto. SM is exactly right. Do you [hennz] have any idea how difficult Japanese would be without kanji? You'd know if you've ever tried to translate a long string of Japanese written in just hiragana D: besides, kanji is so 'purdyful' :D