Kanji Study

There are plenty of international and mixed-race Japanese kids who are multilingual. It's the ones with a full six years of kanji (the Chinese-based calligraphy) skill who stand apart in the job market. Even though our son goes to a private, English-language parochial school in Tokyo my wife and I still insist that he maintains a kanji skill commensurate with his age. The after-school study sessions and tutoring times are met with moans and stiff resistance by my son, Eiji, reminding me of my Jewish friends back home who were regularly herded off for Hebrew school. He knows it's important, but it's a monumental undertaking and after he gets done with his ever-increasing homework from school, the last thing he wants to do is deal with any additional study. But as of a few days ago, I was able to put away "the stick." I've started using a smart phone app for my own kanji studies which tracks progress, tests, and re-tests in several different ways. It's been brilliant for my own studies, but since I put it on Eiji's iPod he and I have started studying together. Correct answers and aced mini-tests reward you with sounds; when we study at the same time, these sounds fire our competitive spirit as one can hear the other "doing better" from across the room. The competition is furious, and moreover productive. Rules for study: 1. lead by example 2. make it fun whenever possible