According to a survey by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, more young people are now checking kanji on their mobile phone than by using a dictionary.

In the survey of nearly 2,000 people, 80% of Japanese 20-somethings revealed that a quick check on their mobile’s email function was their preferred method.

For all folks in general though, cell phones are still in second place to print dictionaries, though the gap is closing, and cell phone use (for kanji checking) was way ahead of computers, electronic dictionaries and the internet.

The Asahi article raises an interesting point about the difference between passive and productive understanding of kanji.

The survey found that 78.9 percent of the respondents use hiragana for the word “utsu” (depression) when they write it.

But 71.5 percent said they use the 29-stroke kanji character, arguably one of the hardest to write from memory, when they type the word on cellphones or other devices.

Try that one yourself. The report finishes by saying -

“For young people, kanji is something they type (from the cellphone pad or the personal computer keyboard) rather than write with their hands,” said author Tatsuro Dekune. “The ability to write correct kanji may be considered inconsequential someday.”