Abstract
This paper provides an overview of Chinese character usage in the Shōwa and Heisei eras, focusing on the usage rates of Chinese characters in Japanese sentences and examining their changes over time. Based on another study suggesting that Chinese character usage varied by media or genre, this study analyses the usage rates of Chinese characters in the monthly magazine Bungei Shunjū as a case study, and compares the rates to those reported in previous studies of modern fiction. The findings show that the rate of Chinese character usage stabilised after declining until the mid-20th century when viewed from a broad perspective, a trend also observed in modern fiction. However, the differences between the two are that the magazine articles generally contain more Chinese characters than do the works of modern fiction. Additionally, while the rate in the magazine increased slightly after the late 20th century, it did not reach early 20th-century levels and showed a more gradual change than the stabilisation observed in modern fiction. This indicates a potential difference in Chinese character usage between magazines and modern fiction.
https://ror.org/02956yf07 
