Kanji

Kanji (漢字) are meaning-based characters adapted from Chinese. Each one carries a meaning and one or more readings, and they are written alongside the hiragana and katakana syllabaries.

There are tens of thousands of kanji in total, but only about 2,136 Jōyō (everyday-use) kanji are needed to read most modern Japanese - newspapers, books, and signs. Around 1,000 of these are taught in elementary school.

For the JLPT you need roughly 100 kanji at N5, 300 at N4, 650 at N3, 1,000 at N2, and 2,000+ at N1.

Learn kanji through vocabulary - real words in context - rather than memorizing characters in isolation.

Break each kanji into its radicals (component parts); it is far easier to remember 休 as "person 亻 + tree 木" than as separate strokes.

Practice both directions - recognizing meaning and recalling the kanji - and review regularly so readings stick.