http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_o...g_japanese

Short but interesting article showing that reading Japanese is difficult even for Japanese. Highlights the errors the Japanese PM Taro Aso has made, and that has boosted sales of books such as "Chinese Characters that Look Readable but are Easily Misread".

Not surprising the Japanese PM has trouble though, since elsewhere he boasted that he doesn't read newspapers. I think he has also expressed his fondness for anime. I guess too much anime, and too little reading are bad for the old kanji skills.

I was just about to post this exact topic.

From the article:
"Just reading the newspaper requires knowledge of about 2,000 characters. Another 50,000 are less common but useful to recognize.

And that's just for starters"

Another 50,000 are less common but useful to recognize!

Could this be any further off? Another reason why people think Japanese is hard.

On another topic, I saw the video of the Prime Minister being challenged to read those words. It's not the first time the politicians have mocked him and seems to be more important than actually doing something for the citizens of the country.

But then again, I may be wrong.

Not sure I'd say it shows that it's "difficult even for Japanese," since Asou seems to be managing the linguistic prowess of a Japanese Bush. Most English speakers don't actually have trouble saying 'nuclear,' is all I'm saying.

Personally, I'm more concerned by his being such a bigot, but we all have our own requirements for our leadership.

This part of the article was also interesting
"According to a 2007 government survey, one-fifth of Japanese 16 or older often encounter Chinese characters they cannot read, while one-third have trouble writing them without looking them up. Nearly half said they still need to master the 2,000 characters considered necessary for daily life. "

So quite a few admit they don't even know the standard 2,000 characters that well. That doesn't surprise me really, when I lived in Japan I asked some people some relatively simple kanji questions and they didn't know the answer.

According to a 2009 snallygaster survey whose results I just made up, one-fifth of English speakers 16 or older often encounter English words they don't know how to pronounce*, while one-third have trouble spelling them without looking them up. Nearly half said they don't remember every single word the were taught in high school, particularly ones they've never seen since.

* three-fifths among those reading RTK