One thing that I have found interesting is the progression of the Japanese language. Hirokana, Katakana and Kanji are the three forms of the characters used in writing. Kanji is the formal written language developed from adopting Chinese characters for Japanese words. (Niponji). It is said that a Chinese may write to a Japanese and both will understand one another. But they cannot use speech to one another.

Because of the ponderous volume of Chinese characters, the Japanese decided to reduce this volume to a more manageable count. However, in so doing, many Japanese words were left without a means of writing them. So sound characters were developed for Japanese words. This group is Katakana.
As Japan opened up to other nations, foreign words were introduced, i. e., pan = bread. Bread was unknown in Japan until the Spanish and Portugese missionaries arrived. Their word for bread was pan and the word adopted. Television, hamburger, etc., also have their place in the modern language and now are written in Hirokana.

I find the Japanese an interesting language to learn to speak, but a daunting one to attempt to read or write.

I should love to once again have flash cards for the characters. If anyone knows of a source, I would greatly appreciate to have that information.