Being illiterate - Kanji Part 2

I thought I would try to update this thing more regularly. Which means I'll go through a spurt where I update every two or three days, and then sink back into lethargy where I don't update at all. This is one of the former periods.

I was thinking last night about my inability to read here. In China, I didn't even attempt it since every character was so alien to me. In Korea, learning to read was relatively easy and I was reading at a pseudo-decent speed by the time I left. In Japan, with the 3 different writing systems, one is tricked into thinking he/she can read but then some kanji is tossed in to throw everything off. I think the worst part of kanji is that each character can have a Chinese and Japanese pronunciation. When do you use which? Who knows, I think it's something you learn over time. The native Japanese can't explain why they use a certain pronunciation.

The interesting (strange?) thing about this country is that children in elementary/middle school can, of course, speak their language but have a hard time reading all the signs they see around them. You have to have a high school education to really be able to get around and read everything you want (signs, comic books, novels etc.) That struck me as odd. Being raised as an English speaker, I learned to read in elementary school and by the time I entered junior high I had no problem reading signs or books. Not so here, an elementary graduate can probably only read about 50% of the kanji they see.

The breakdown, as I can understand it, goes as such:
Elementary students are taught kyoiku kanji, equaling 1006 characters.
Middle school students are taught joyo kanji, (an addtional 939 characters.)

On top of this there is jinmeiyo kanji, those used in registering names. Lord knows, when this is taught. I would guess throughout junior high, high school, university and right on until DEATH (possibly kanji continues to torture the Japanese soul into the afterlife). I take this to mean that elementary school students are unable to read the official writing of names. I assume they are taught to read at least their own names.

My official thoughts on kanji are: it's way too complicated and I have no desire to learn it. What with the ten different meanings any one kanji could have depending on context, nuance and blah blah blah. Where would I use it after I leave this country? I watch Will study diligently pretty much every night and sometimes the vague thought that I should learn it too crosses my mind but the thought leaves as quickly as it came and I'm left in happy oblivion. Am I lazy you ask? Most definitely! Disrespectful? Probably. Actually, being here makes me realize that I should've studied Korean harder while I was there. My bad.

This is the illiterate, mute gaijin signing off for now. This post is bit longer than I intended.