When you first set foot in Japan, it's hard not to be impressed by the efficiency and social order. The streets are clean, trains run on time, and the people are quiet and polite, yet possess enough of the bizarre to make them interesting. (One of the first Japanese people I met was a woman who always wore purple and my staid boss was a Beatles fanatic).

As a foreigner, you are a VIP guest in this country and you quickly become pro-Japan, a cheerleader extolling the benefits of a sophisticated, polite society. The health care system is great! My workplace pays my transportation! No income tax my first year! You are in La-La Land. Nothing can touch you. This is such a great country, you say. Because it is.

But what's with the kanji? you ask. There's no way such an inefficient writing system will still be alive in 20 years. With the popularity of computers, which require students to first type Japanese in the English alphabet, then change it to Japanese kana (either hiragana or katakana) and again change the hiragana to kanji, such a laborious practice is bound to atrophy. Why not just stop at the roman alphabet? Kids spend 30 minutes a day at school studying kanji! They could be using that time to study English.