Joy o’ Kanji

In my weekly blog, JOK Notebook, I write about the joyful discoveries I constantly make in my study of kanji. I’m trying to entice people to fall in love with kanji, just as I have. To understand kanji, you need to know a great deal about Japanese culture, so I inevitably end up giving a lot of cultural context in my JOK Notebook posts.

JOK Notebook is just one facet of a much larger site, Joy o’ Kanji. With Joy o’ Kanji, I’m writing 1 essay about each of the 2,136 Joyo kanji. The site showcases these essays (which are for sale), as well as a lot of free content that I’ve written about kanji, helping to provide a map for this chaotic territory.

I am a writer in Berkeley, California. A longtime Japanophile, I started learning Japanese in 2001. In 2009, Stone Bridge Press published my book, “Crazy for Kanji: A Student’s Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters.”  From 2007 through 2010 I wrote weekly Kanji Curiosity blogs for JapanesePod101.com.  I have spoken on public radio about my love of kanji.

• URL: http://www.joyokanji.com/
• Start Date: December 20, 2011
• Location: United States