How I Learned 2200 Kanji in 14 Days (With Simple Memory Hacks)

Total time: 1,911 minutes (31.85 hours or ~51 seconds per Kanji)

Wow. 

Imagine learning one of the hardest alphabets in the world in only 14 days and creating meaningful connections for each one.

You might be a little curious if there was just something that could make you learn this gigantic alphabet a little bit faster…

And there is. 

A combination of Heisig’s Remembering The Kanji (RTK) + memory techniques that I developed for kanji that you can apply immediately so that your little  ‘ol noggin doesn’t forget everything the next day.

Heisig’s RTK is an efficient (but also really boring) way to view kanji as stories to help you view kanji as stories rather than blobs of ink.

But I realized after going through hundreds of kanji and reviewing them every day using just Heisig’s method, I was still having trouble remembering some of them. For example, some problems that I would encounter would be:

• Remembering the wrong positioning of the kanji radicals 
• Remembering different kanjis with similar meanings
• Remembering the story and not linking the kanji
• Remembering the kanji but not the story
• Having abstract meanings for radicals making it difficult to craft stories
• I wouldn’t be able to remember the kanji despite having a story and repeatedly going through it over and over…

You see, it’s an amazing book to help you get started with kanji but… he didn’t teach you how to memorize kanji in-depth properly.

We not only want to remember the kanji correctly (with its meanings and particles in the correct place) but we also want it to stick into our mushy brains.

So I developed variations of memory techniques specifically for kanji so I can solve this problem.

Techniques that were designed to help you create stronger, more emotional stories the right way so you can zip through all of the 2,200 characters.

Now, why the hell would I subject myself to this torture of learning just the English meaning of Kanji creating images for each character for 31.85 hours?

Trust me. My mind was starting to go numb at times sitting in front of kanji flashcards for hours making me question if learning just the English meaning is even going to help. But I realized that even though it is super boring, it is one of the most effective ways to exponentially increase your Japanese reading and vocabulary comprehension (especially for beginners and intermediates like us.)

Let me explain…

Let’s use the English alphabet as an example. When you were a kid learning English you started to learn the alphabet with songs and mnemonics.

This made you see the word “Apple” from a different perspective as multiple letters rather than a blob of random characters. And the bonus part was you were able to have an idea on how to say it.  Eventually, over time you stopped recognizing “Apple” as “A-p-p-l-e” but saw it as one word and then went on to learn about different kinds of apples (green apples, red apples, Honeycrisp apples. etc.) 

Learning the kanji alphabet first with just the meaning is almost the same way.

The main difference is that we are learning the meaning of the kanji first before learning how to pronounce it (And also turning 26 characters into a gajillion symbols).

And the goal is that when you finish through the entire kanji alphabet you would be able to use context clues to guess the meaning of what’s being said (without being able to pronounce it)

We want to gain a similar advantage that Chinese learners have when learning kanji.

For example, take a look at the sentences below.

私は友達が大好きです。

わたしはともだちがだいすきです。(I love my friend.)

Let’s say you have never touched kanji in your life before and you saw “大好” for the first time. It’s going to look like gibberish pictures with you unable to guess its meaning nor pronounce it.

Then let’s say you went through Heisig’s method. All of a sudden you are going to see those kanji as individual stories and realize that the individual meanings for those characters mean “Big – Like.” Now you may not know how to pronounce it but you can use context clues to guess its meaning.

Now let’s say after a couple of months in you start getting mixed up on the kanji’s meaning and forgetting some of the stories. Or you start messing up on how to correctly remember the kanji (like the kanji “好” with “女” to the left and “子“ to the right). That’s where my memory techniques and pure repetition comes in.

And that’s why we go through the pain and effort of creating 2,200 kanji images in our head because we are using those images as leverage to not only guess the meaning but to also create new, faster images for vocabulary we have never seen before!

And the secret formula for remembering kanji faster is simple.

All you have to do is increase the speed of creating powerful, emotional stories using Heisig’s Remembering The Kanji (RTK) as your foundation, memory techniques that work for you, and pure repetition. And that’s it. Simple, right?

Some Questions You Might Have Before We Start

Did you really memorize 2,200 kanji in 14 days?

When you say this I’m guessing you mean that each kanji is stored into my head perfectly so that I can recall the English meaning at any time. Unfortunately, I have to drill it into my head like a normal human being.

There’s a difference between learning 2,200 kanji and creating meaningful stories for each one of them vs. actually remembering each 2,200 kanji perfectly.

I’d say I memorized 40% of the kanji (880 kanji) on my first go, 20% (440 kanji) in my medium-term memory (if that’s even a word), and the rest in my short term memory.

But think about it like this. I was able to memorize ~880 kanji in 14 days rather than studying 50 new kanji per day and only remembering 90% of them (630 kanji) PLUS I was able to create meaningful connections for the rest of the kanji.

The other reasons why I liked learning like this was because:

1. I know I have a connection with that kanji if I ever see it again.
2. It lets me gauge if I need to change my story or make it stronger.
3. When I review the same kanji again it’s going to be a lot faster.

Can I also study and do the same thing as you in 14 days?

Hell yeah you can if you have the time and are willing to put in the work and effort.

But if you are a normal person who has a job and responsibilities then you may not be able to do my exact method. So I would recommend you just carving out an hour a day to do the same stuff and you will get almost the same benefits. You may be learning less kanji at once, but you will be creating stronger stories for each kanji you encounter.

Can’t I learn Kanji just through words I encounter when I’m reading and mere exposure?

Yes, you can. That’s actually how the Japanese learn kanji through the sheer amount of exposure of kanji characters in their daily life.

Like in this example sentence:

私は友達が大好きです。(I love my friend.)

You are going to be able to know how to pronounce it and know it’s meaning through context clues.

But the only downside is that it’s going to take you a bit longer to recognize that specific set of kanji a bit longer since you would have no prior knowledge of the meaning behind those symbols. You also won’t be able to use context clues to guess the meaning of the kanji either.

The best strategy is to do both if you can make the time.

Here’s What You Will Need To Get Started

• Anki Program
• Anki Deck – Anki Heisig Deck (I used this one. You can use whatever Heisig you want.)
• Remembering The Kanji Volume 1 – Heisig (Highly Recommended)
• Anki Phone App (Optional) – $24.99
• A lot of time and patience

That’s it. Just download Anki and start reviewing those cards daily! I recommend setting the bar low for a couple of days and see how it goes as the cards will soon start to pile up and will take you a while to complete them all.

Now why use Anki despite its ugly interface?

• It uses spaced repetition
• It makes the vocabulary words random
• It’s powerful and versatile

Spaced repetition is popular nowadays but it’s just a fancy way of letting you memorize a bit more efficiently.

Warning: The Biggest Problem Learning Through This Method

The biggest problem I would say learning through this method is that you may be memorizing kanji that you may not even see that often (and you won’t even know it.)  

Even though it is an official list, a lot of these kanji symbols aren’t used in everyday life in Japan and you may be spending time memorizing kanji you won’t even encounter.

Of course, there are other problems like:

• Not being able to pronounce
• Not being able to learn real Japanese
• Etc.

But this method is used as a supplement to make learning those things exponentially faster and not too much of a problem.

That’s why I say the best method is to have some sort of reading supplement so you have an idea of which kanji to prioritize when you start your journey.

Another Heads Up Before You Start Learning Kanji Like This

Learning 2,200 kanji is going to be difficult whether it takes you 2 weeks like me or multiple months. And two of the major obstacles you are going to do is the sheer amount of time it takes and your motivation suddenly disappearing.

It’s going to happen (trust me) and you are going to start rationalizing why you need to learn kanji like this when you won’t:

• Be able to pronounce it correctly
• Know the exact vocabulary definition
• How to actually use the kanji (and it’s different contexts)

Do you really want to start reading Japanese as fast as possible even though this is an incredibly boring way? Or did you maybe want to wait a little bit later and just start learning kanji through mere exposure to gain some motivation? Or do both at the same time?

Just some questions to think about before you start to commit yourself to this journey.

A Quick Guide On How Your Brain Works To Memorize Correctly 

Now before we can start memorizing kanji rapidly you need to know a little bit about how your brain works.

We don’t want to remember kanji like a test in school and forget everything the next day… We want to actually remember it and store it in our long-term memory.

But your brain is a funny creature. It picks what it thinks is important (rather than what you think) and discards the other stuff that it thinks it isn’t important. 

Which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you don’t have to manually sort your memory throughout the day, but on the other hand… you have memories that aren’t really that important.

Like… remembering your cringy times in middle school but forgetting about that important appointment that’s tomorrow.

And it seems super chaotic and random at times for what your brain memorizes but there is actually a structure to it.

Let’s break it down further and think about some of the things that you can probably EASILY remember:

• Something that significantly changed your life (Graduating college, Finding your first job, etc.)
• A big event that was important to you (The best party of your life, wedding, etc.)
• Your past relationships
• Crazy stories (Getting drunk with your friends, doing dumb things, etc.)
• Funny stories
• Your old house (and it’s layout)
• Sexy times at night 😉
• That time when your mom scolded you when you were 7 years old because you didn’t brush your teeth (This personally happened to me).

And let’s think about the things you have probably forgotten:

• What you learned in high school AND college (even though you spent 4 years there…)
• What you ate for lunch last Tuesday
• The bananas that you forgot to buy when you went to Costco today
• An appointment you scheduled for next week
• The laundry yesterday

In other words, your brain loves the weird, crazy, funny, emotionally-packed memories that have a great amount of personal significance to you. And over time you may forget about the small details but you will always remember the main idea.

This was how humans communicated back during the caveman times to remember important details, have fun, and pass down their culture.

You will always remember the details better when you break up with your girlfriend vs. hearing a story about how your friend broke up with his girlfriend.

And you are most likely going to remember that weird and hilarious story your friends told you vs your lunch last Tuesday.

Your brain will also remember things that relate to your survival (food, water, sex, danger, fear) and things you encounter through mere repetition.

And what we want to do is use all of these to help you remember kanji as efficiently as possible. We want to both create exciting stories and see how it is being used so that we can place all of these kanji meanings into your long term memory.

Which means… we just need to create funny, emotional crazy stories 2,200 times for every single kanji! And once you understand those meanings we want to create further connections by seeing real vocabulary being used in kanji using those same kanji. 

What Is Heisig’s Method (And How I Made It Easier To Remember)

Heisig is an awesome dude for creating RTK and I wholeheartedly recommend buying his book to use along with the Anki deck (especially if you are new to this idea of creating images for kanji.)

You see… Heisig was definitely on the right track on helping gaijins like us learning Kanji without resorting to brute repetition, and fortunately, you have my guide to show you possible memory techniques you can use to help you memorize it even better.

This means we’re going to take the complicated kanji below and break it into multiple parts to help us remember the English meaning only. For example:

獲る

える（earn)

This kanji means to seize. 

So Heisig would probably break it down into radicals something like this:

• Dog (犭)
• Flower
• Vessel (隻)

And then you would create a story based on those radicals. A story about a dog running around a ship with flowers with its head trying to seize the ship (or something like that.)

And this method allows you to view kanji as stories instead of big blocks of scary lines.

But the problem with this method is that the stories are boring and limiting sometimes (remember I was telling you how your brain tends to remember exciting stories?)

And even though Heisig’s method was a good start it wasn’t too effective for me and I would run into problems like:

• The particle placement
• Which particles were which
• Remembering the Kanji because the stories weren’t memorable
• Creating images with archaic meaning particles.

So this is how I would memorize this particular kanji.

I would break it up like this:

• Cat (犭)
• Flower
• Turkey (隹)
• Crotch (又)
• Vessel 
• える
• Earn

And the story I would create would be something like a Cat on the left side of this gigantic vessel with a turkey wearing a flower hat and it’s crotch hanging loose on the right side of the vessel. And both the turkeys and cats would be fighting (cartoon style) to seize the ship.

I would then imagine an incredibly vivid sea with passengers and a beautiful white cruise ship (that I personally rode on) passing by who is earning money while watching this cartoon fight and cheering for their favorite character.

Now I created this vulgar and funny story in my hand (with lots of specific details) because I want to actually remember this kanji and its story.

Some details include:

• The cat is on the left and the turkey is on the right (radical placements)
• Cruise ship I rode on before (personal connection)
• Funny, violent, and vulgar story (your brain likes it)
• Lots of extraneous details to create a solid story (stronger images = stronger memories)
• I used radical substitution to change the meanings of some radicals (Helps me make better stories)
• Etc.

So the more details you put into your story (how many clouds there are, what color is the sea, the sun shining at 12 pm, etc.) the more likely you are going to remember the story. 

Now adding more details to each kanji may take a little longer, but it is worth it in the long run when you don’t have to constantly repeat the kanji over and over because you can’t memorize it.

Some things To Keep In Mind Before Memorizing Kanji

These are things that you should put a priority to focus on when you are starting out in your kanji journey.

The Major Kanji Radicals

Heisig goes through some of them but I think it’s important to know the actual meaning of the radical before starting to memorize kanji. Knowing what the radicals mean allows you to have more options in crafting stories that will actually make you remember.

I’d personally say learn like the first major 50 radicals and just throw yourself into learning kanji and picking up the kanji radicals you don’t know along the way.

The best way to do that to learn is to go to jisho.org and type in “#Kanji 友達(or whatever kanji you don’t know” where it breaks it down into particles for you to memorize.

And then they use that kanji to build other kanji (and the cycle continues until it’s just a blob of ink.)

But the reason why I say you should learn this first is that it gives you more options to craft better stories.

Have A General Idea Of The Stroke Order

Now this one isn’t too important but it’s important to at least have a general idea of how to write each kanji.

The reason why you want to do this is that you want to “write” the kanji in your head correctly so that it will be easier to remember.

It’s going to feel strange at first but after a couple of hundred kanji you are going to get a feel of how to actually write each kanji.

The Different Techniques You Can Use To Help You Memorize Kanji

Let’s finally learn the specific techniques that you will use to make your kanji memorizing experience a whole lot better. And these techniques is like eating at a buffet. You pick and choose the ones that work for each specific kanji you encounter.

These are the techniques I personally used to create emotionally packed stories fast.

But remember, the best method is using whatever tools you have to help you remember kanji longer.

So let’s get started.

How To Remember The Kanji Placement Correctly

Let’s take a look at the kanji below.

慰める

なぐさめる (To comfort)

So here we have the military office (尉) on top and heart (心) on the bottom and what I would do is create a story where I imagine a military officer stepping on a heart while comforting someone (quite a disturbing story…)

But let’s say you didn’t know that the top portion was a military officer. Then what you would do is you would want to create a story with the top portion meaning “military officer.”

So I would break the kanji radicals like this

• 示 (Show → Ritual Table)
• 寸 (Measurement → Glue)
• 尸 (Corpse → Flag)

And pay attention to where I place each kanji radicals in my story. For example, I would remember an American flag over a ritual table with a fallen American military officer laying there towards the left side. There would be many American military officers surrounding them in a circle holding Elmer’s glue in their right hand. And then all of them would be stepping on a heart (now it’s really gruesome!)

But let’s say I have a problem and I keep mixing up the kanji radicals… for instance, if I keep forgetting 寸 is to the right side. What I would do is create even more hints that glue is to the right side and create a giant Elmer’s glue bottle right next to this entire story. It’s weird… but effective for memorizing.

And the solution is to keep on piling hints until you are able to remember that 寸 is towards the right side of the kanji. 

When The Radicals Have Abstract Meanings Making It Difficult To Make Stories

Now it’s always important to know the actual meaning of the kanji radical but sometimes it’s just too difficult to associate that kanji radical with an abstract meaning. Take this kanji for example: 

抽

• 手 (Hand)
• 由 (Wherefore; Reason)
• Meaning: To Pluck

Now you would be able to kinda create an image with a left hand but how are you going to associate this abstract kanji with an abstract meaning like wherefore? 

Let’s say you want to outsmart me and associate “Wherefore → Hamlet’s way of speaking” and all you have to do is imagine Hamlet plucking something right?

The only problem with this method is that it is going to be incredibly difficult to associate 由 whenever another kanji uses this radical.

So the solution I used was image substitution.

So instead of 由 meaning wherefore you can substitute its meaning for something a looot easier to remember like a tank in a bird’s view perspective or something completely random like a brussel sprout (which is what I did.)

A Brussels sprout is something tangible, different, and easier to imagine than something like “wherefore” even if the kanji’s meaning is completely different. So now I can easily imagine myself holding a brussel sprout in my left hand as I am plucking them from the field.

And the best part is you can use brussel sprout as an image to memorize kanjis where they use the specific radical with different characters and all you have to do is just make different stories based around brussel sprouts!

How Not To Get Confused WIth Similar Meanings But Different Kanji

What’s going to happen is you are going to encounter many kanji with the same meaning expressed through completely different kanji. But when you are trying to drill a specific kanji it can get pretty frustrating doing a 50/50 just to guess the right kanji meaning “Boil.” So this is what I decided to do.

For example, there are two different kanji with the same meaning “To boil.”

沸かす

And

煮る

And I would do this next to each kanji word “boil, わかす”

Now you don’t need to remember how to say the word but just a hint that is actually helpful for learning Japanese will help you guide you not to pick the right kanji, but also allows you to associate that kanji with that specific sound! 

I would do something like this below:

Adding an element of pronunciation gives you one more connection for your brain to memorize it even faster (even if you don’t focus on remembering how to say it.)

How to link the kanji into the story you created

Another problem you are going to be likely to encounter is that you remember the story but you can’t link it to the kanji.

 Take this for example:

繕

• 糸 (Thread → Spiderman)
• 善 (Virtuous)
• Meaning: Darning, repair

Now if I saw this kanji then I would immediately remember the story of Spiderman being too virtuous as he is repairing his darn clothes.

But you also want to train yourself to remember the kanji from memory from just the English keyword (which Heisig recommends.)

And this is where the problem usually comes in. No matter how many times you see the English keyword it just doesn’t click.

So there are a couple of ways to tackle this problem.

The first way is to use the first impression of that English word you have and magically connect it to your story.

In this case, the first thing that comes to mind with the word darning is The Simpsons with Homer Simpson’s voice. And now I have to somehow associate Spiderman being virtuous with The Simpsons… like Spiderman being too virtuous and saving Homer Simpson from danger and making him stop eating donuts (I know it’s pretty weird but it will be a lot easier to remember.)

You just need one hint to help you remind you which story this kanji associate you and then the rest of the kanji will appear.

The second way is to use vocabulary as your hint as you craft your story.

This word isn’t just used for repairing but it can also be used as a way to groom your appearance.

So this means I would have　繕う（つくろう）and first learn the new vocabulary. Then I would have to associate the meaning of the vocabulary to also mean grooming your appearance and imagine Spiderman fixing himself up for his date with Mary jane.

Use Koohii Stories.

Koohii stories are amazing. They are community-generated kanji stories where people vote on which one is their favorite story.

Take this kanji for example:

潜

Sometimes they suck but most of the time they are hilarious, creative, sexy, and sometimes disturbing.

Now the way to use them is to generate ideas after you attempt to craft your stories.

This is important because you are more likely to remember your own personal stories, then using someone else’s. But it is a treasure trove for ideas to enhance your own stories.

It also gives you another reminder of what your specific story was (and you are going to forget after going through thousands of kanji.)

Use Personal Connections In Your Life

You want to put in as many of your own experiences into these stories as you can so you can link this kanji with a powerful memory already in your head. What this does is exponentially increase the chances of this kanji sticking into your brain.

If you are making a story about riding on a cruise ship, try and use a cruise ship you rode on before. Or if the story has a dog radical (which a lot of kanji has) try and use a dog that you have seen before.

You will notice that these pictures will start to stick a lot easier. That’s because we are leveraging our prior memories and connecting them to different kanji so we can memorize faster.

Put As Intense Emotion Into Your Stories As You Can

You want to put as much emotion into your stories as you can.

This means making it:

• Happy
• Funny 
• Sad
• Scary
• Depressing
• Disturbing
• Etc.

You are most likely not going to share these specific stories to your friends (because they will probably never ask) so you take advantage of creating the craziest, weirdest story that you can imagine!

Use Google Images When You Can’t Think Of Any Images

This one is a last resort but you would want to use google images when you can’t think of any stories and images for that particular kanji.

Then you would want to quickly go on Google Images and choose something related to the kanji. For example, you can choose the image based on its:

• English Meanings
• Japanese Vocabulary associated with that kanji
• Something similar to a story you made
• Something similar to a koohii story (you borrowed)

And try to associate the image with the English meaning.

And the chain of memorizing the kanji would look something like this.

English Meaning → Google Image → Story → Kanji.

It adds one more step but it also adds one more connection to your thoughts which is a good thing.

What to do when you are reviewing kanji again

Now unless you have a photographic memory you are going to need to review the images that you have created for your kanji all over again.

But thankfully it’s going to be a lot faster since you have already seen that kanji + you already created a story.

And what this does is allows you to see which kanji you actually remember vs which ones you need to work on (and making your stories better.

But here are some other things to consider when reviewing kanji in round 2.

Create Multiple Stories For The Same Kanji

What? Won’t I get confused?

If you are already having trouble remembering the kanji with your story, it may be because your story sucks. This means you might have to completely recreate the entire story for something which has more personal connections or more emotion.

So let’s say I just can’t remember this kanji below:

署 (Signature)

• 者 (Person
• 罒 (Eye)

Let’s say I am trying to create a story and it seems obvious that I would create a story with probably a giant eye looking down onto a person at first writing a signature for some documents. Easy, right?

But let’s say no matter how many times I look at this kanji I just can’t remember the story (and therefore remember the actual kanji.)

So what I would do is attempt to create another story that has more emotion.

So, in this case, I would replace the meaning of the kanji radical person → waifu doll and now the story is to have a government official staring down at you as you personally check your waifu doll for any damage before signing the agreement to buy her (a weird story but super effective for memorizing.)

Now you have created two stories and what’s going to happen is that the first story is going to give you leverage to help you remember the second story better and over time your brain is going to choose the story it likes.

Use Multiple Vocab Words To Help You Craft Better Images

When I am really struggling with remembering a specific kanji word, I start adding vocabulary words that the kanji uses.

And just saying the word while looking at the kanji gives your brain a little something to help you remember slightly better.

Usually, I would use the vocabulary words I choose to help me craft stronger stories so if I recognize the meaning of the Japanese word, I may be able to remember the story.

And how do you choose vocabulary words? Ideally, you would choose ones you already know so that you don’t have to attempt to memorize the vocabulary. But I personally pick the ones that are either first or that sound nice. 

And if there’s no vocabulary available on the cards, just copy and paste the kanji into Jisho.com or some other dictionary and pick the vocab that you like.

Pure repetition In “The Wild”

Now the best way to remember kanji after reviewing everything once is to actually see the kanji in the wild. 

This means taking off your training shoes and trying to recognize the vocabulary word by recognizing the meaning of the kanji first.

This means reading novels, subtitles, and news articles.

And what you want to do is you want to place reminders of the Kanji meaning onto your flashcards (even though I hate putting English on my flashcards)

because you will forget the meaning often. So it’s nice to have reminders for the first few months recognizing kanji and over time you won’t be needing the English kanji translations anymore. 

Some Mistakes I made when I personally went to attempt to memorize 2,200 kanji in 14 days

Use Pomodoro Breaks If You Are Studying For Long Periods

There are people who can study for 12 hours a day straight (especially during finals exam in college.) But unfortunately, it’s just not sustainable to do this over a period of months.

And the best way for languages to stick into your head is to use time to your advantage.

That’s why I try and take naps and walks after working for 50 minutes straight so that I give a chance to my brain to organize all of this stuff.

And another thing you will notice is that you aren’t going to learn much by passively looking at kanji. You need to be active into crafting these stories because you are going to realize it takes a lot of brainpower to think of a story and then to associate that kanji with a story 2,200 times.

 I didn’t take breaks at first I wanted to run through the entire thing so I can start learning Japanse through more exciting mediums (manga, anime, novels, etc.)

But I realized after a couple of hours in without any breaks and I just felt like exhausted. And at one point it just felt like I was just only looking at the kanji instead of actually creating stories.

Not Taking Long Enough To Create The Kanji

At around day 13 I just wanted to finish all the kanji so that I can just start reviewing them already. This was at the point I was almost done with all of the kanji and I just started making quick, crappy stories just to stick it into my short term memory which made forget all about it the next day.

In retrospect, this didn’t really help me. I changed my strategy into focusing going in-depth for each kanji (learning the vocabulary, creating better stories, etc.) and I have noticed much better results from taking the time to take the time to craft memorable stories on the second run through.

Make Sure To Cap It At 100 (Or A Reasonable Limit)

Don’t be like me where you decide to see how much reviews you have left. It’s going to be really demoralizing.

When I finished going through the kanji, I had over 3000 kanji cards tor review.

So I told myself, “Okay, I’ll do 300 reviews per day and finish this in 10 days.”

But then the next day I would need to review another 300 reviews. So for a couple of days I just saw 3,000 never change. And this was so demoralizing I decided to click on every kanji on Anki as “hard.”

So yeah… don’t be dumb like me and actually set reasonable limits…

Conclusion

This was an incredibly long guide going in-depth into learning the specific memory tricks for remembering Kanji faster.

We went through why we should learn this method (even though it may really boring) and a simple explanation of what your brain likes to remember.

Then we went into the specific memory techniques I have used before to help me learn kanji at an exponential rate.

Although I learned these memory tricks to help me learn faster, use whatever method that works best for you.

Hopefully, I gave you some helpful advice to use when you are stuck remembering specific kanji.

Let me know in the comments if you found this guide to be helpful!