from 1945 to 2131

The bad news: Apparently, the Japanese government announced recently that the number of OFFICIAL characters (kanji) has gone from 1945-2131. Thats 191 new kanji and 5 old ones tossed out. These aren't new kanji, they're just kanji that were not required in order to be considered literate.

The good news!: about half of these come up in every day life and the other half are already common knowledge among Japanese and used in books. I already know about 60 of them perfectly and theres another 30 or 40 that I recognize.

People always say that the amount of commonly known kanji is a little over 2000 so adjustment was just made to more accurately reflect what speakers of Japanese already know. So the only way this effects me is making something I'd learn anyway for reading novels compulsary and the test I have to take will probably include these.

To anyone studying Japanese, these include:

虎-Tiger
熊-bear
亀-turtle
誰-who
捻る-twist
虹-rainbow
膝-knee
串-kushi as in kushi katsu (kind of food)
丼-donburi (food)
酎-as in shouchuu, the alcohol
唄-alternate kanji for song
埼-one of the 2 wonderful kanji in Saitama, the New Jersey of Japan in which I currently reside.
挨拶-introduction (both kanji were added)
韓-Korea
俺-extremely casual or rude way of saying I or me.
尻-BUTT!

Not so bad right? If you can read anything in Japan you'll probably recognize 30% or more of the 191.