Joe Lauer, a long-term American resident of Hiroshima, sent the following feedback on a workshop I conducted to promote the Kanji Proficiency Examination (Kanken), a standardized test that measures both kanji reading and writing ability:
"For most Westerners living in Japan, the Kanken is a waste of time. The many hours it takes to learn writing could better be spent developing the speaking, reading and listening skills we need for our daily lives. On the rare occasions when we need to write kanji, we can do so through the skillful use of a computer -- if we are good at reading."
With Japanese word processing software, writers can simply type their desired words in hiragana and then select the appropriate kanji from the options that pop up. Wizardry like this causes Joe to wonder, "Why should an adult from a nonkanji-using country take the trouble to learn to write kanji from memory by hand?"