New General Use Kanji from 2010

What do the following kanji have in common?

「奈」「岡」「熊」「梨」「阜」「埼」「茨」「栃」「鹿」「阪」「媛」

If you guessed that they all belong to the names of prefectures, you'd be right.

「奈良」「岡山」「熊本」「山梨」「鹿児島」「大阪」

「岐阜」「埼玉」「茨城」「栃木」「愛媛」

But that's not all they have in common - none of these kanji belong to the official General Use or Joyo kanji. Despite the fact that these kanji are widely known and commonly used they have managed to escape inclusion in the official list of kanji that you simply have to know. The Nihon Keizai Shinbun reports that the Council for Cultural Affairs has finally caught on, and from 2010 these 11 kanji will be included in a new, revised version of the Joyo kanji. In practical terms this means that schoolchildren will have to not only be able to read the "new" kanji, they will have to learn to write them - there goes my party trick whereby I challenge people to write the kanji for Ehime...

Original article: NikkeiNet

Comments

[Abiola Lapite]

Actually, 「媛」 *is* part of the Joyo kanji, and it is taught in grade 9.

[Will]

You sure you want to call an Ehime person out on that kanji? :-)

By all means provide a link or reference to back up what you say.

[randomcommenter]

Abiola, I think you're thinking of the other "hime" (姫, not 媛).

[Joe (Ex-Ehimean)]

Ironically the 47 prefecture system is on the way out anyway. By the time everyone starts learning how to write 媛, the place may well be part of 四国州 or something.