Re: [tlug] Missing kanji [was: japanese encoding question]

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Brett" == Brett Robson <b-robson@example.com> writes:

    Brett> There is an offical list of 1945 kanji (Joyo kanji) and an
    Brett> extra 285 or so kanji that can be used for names (jinmei-yo
    Brett> kanji). The law states that only these kanji can be used
    Brett> for names. Unless you are handling historical documents or
    Brett> something like a dictionary there is no need.

False.  For _new_ names.  As of about 1999 there were still a couple
dozen people/places in Hokkaido (IIRC) whose legally registered names
could not be represented in JIS X 0208/0212, let alone using the
sanctioned set.  (Of course this is really stupid now!)  I think the
former problem is fixed as of the most recent version of JIS X 0213,
but of course they can't pass those names on to their kids.

If you talk to Japanese between the ages of 40-55 you'll probably run
into a few who envy their (similarly named) sempai because the sempai
can still use the (now obsolete for naming) kanji.  I have a friend
whose "hajime" lost something like 9 strokes when it was abbreviated
to the modern form (pi-bar, aka the "gen" in "genki" :-), and he is
_still_ steamed about it, as he is only about 4 years younger than his
"stroke-rich" colleague.

:-)


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