From: tiger22 <at> IX <dot> NETCOM <dot> COM
Date: 13 nov 1999
Subject: How many kanji for shogi?

According to someone at the University of Wisconsin: "Learning to read technical Japanese is much easier than
learning to read news or cultural materials; the required vocabulary and grammar turn out to be very
restricted. Only 365 KANJI are needed to cover 80% of the KANJI found in physics, chemistry, biology, and
their related engineering disciplines! The repetition of vocabulary is far greater for technical
material than for normal Japanese materials." http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/KanjiFlash/tech.htm
I think shogi is a kind of technical subject and I'm wondering if the same theory applies.  That is, about 365
kanji covers 80% of the vocabulary found in Japanese shogi books.  Has anybody tried to learn Japanese just to
read shogi books?