Procrastikanji |
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19 February 2026 - Erlenbach
We all have things that we do to procrastinate. Organize the kitchen cabinets. Watch TikToks. Catalog shotglasses. Reorganize t-shirts. Basically anything mildly useful and entertaining to avoid things which need to be done. For several years now I've had procrastikanji, that is, I study, draw, learn the relationships between, and generally become familiar with Japanese kanji. More than once (like this morning) I have sat down at my home computer with something important to accomplish and instead find myself deep in procrastikanji. Learning the meanings of the 72 seasons. Discovering the older (pre-1946) forms of shinjitai. Surprising myself by learning that "ebisu" means barbarian, but also is one of the seven lucky gods of Japanese Buddhism. And reminiscing about raising 蚕 as a child. For someone like me who loves collecting and organizing this will likely provide decades of fun.
These tiny dopamine hits from procrastinating distract us from the more important task and can fritter away our focusing energy. How can we avoid rabbitholes like procrastikanji when the whole of the internet is at our fingertips? I have some strategies like not keeping my kanji handbook on my desk, closing tabs from my studies, etc., but I always come back to it. I suppose it's not terrible though. The other night I watched "Rental Family", which takes place in Japan, and was excited to realize just how many of the signs in the background I could read or recognize a kanji or two on.
