How many Kanji symbols are in official use in Japan?
The Kanji symbols are ancient and many are not used any more, though still valid. Therefore, Japanese Government specifies the "General Use Permanent Kanji", comprising 1945 characters, or which 996 are designated as to be learned in elementary school. Any publications using Kanji outside of this list are legally required to print the interpretation alongside the obscure Kanji symbol for clarification.