tlug: Re: Japanese input

[Karl-Max Wagner <karlmax@example.com>]

Hi Guys,

watching all the discussion about Japanese input methods I am
getting heretic ideas. Before setting them out some historic
considerations, however.

As far as I know, literacy in Japan started around 500 AD in
Japan and the system used was the one the Chinese use ( I think
this came about with Prince Shotoku's importation of pretty much
anything the Chinese had at the time in an attempt to modernize
Japan ).

About 500 years later, around 1000 AD ( middle Heian ), a clever
guy developed an alphabetic system, known hitherto as kana to
replace the complicated Chinese system. This was subsequently
taught to women ( they were considered too stupid for being
taught Kanji at the time ) and the result was that some pieces
of world literature were written - like Murasaki Shikibu's
"Genji Monogatari". This proved that the new system was useable
in practice. The logical consequence would have been to
subsequently dump the kanji system and to use the kana
thereafter.

For reasons unknown to pretty much everybody, however, the kana
system was used to glue the kanji together in the later course
of history and women were taught kanji as well ( they finally
found out that women were capable of understanding them ).

When I consider the fact that kids need to be taught reading and
writing more than eight years in japanese schools, the very
considerable complexities in handling kanji using machines etc.
etc. I wonder whether it wouldn't be better to do away with the
kanji altogether and to stick to the tried and proven kana
system. I am aware that there will be considerable political
resistance against doing so and I might also have broken some
cultural taboos in discussing the option. Well, I don't mind. I
even don't know whether this has a chance of ever happening.
However, this outdated kanji system is costing the japanese
public a high price in terms of added complexity and extra time
needed to handle it and this appears as a real waste to me -
just consider the time programmers spend to design an implement
input methods, the size of the font files etc.

                            Karl-Max Wagner
                            karlmax@example.com
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