[Bug] iOS font issue - Improperly simplified kanji

[ssjoel3k]

There appears to be an issue with the Hiragino font on iOS devices. A large number of non-joyo kanji (particularly RTK3 kanji) are simplified when they shouldn't be. (i.e. 噌、煉、餅、櫛、etc.)

For reference, these are the characters (this was a fix JIS made for these characters). The 2000 forms are the improperly simplified ones, while the 2004 characters are the ones that have been corrected: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/JIS_X_0213#/media/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:JIS_X_0213_2000-2004.gif

MS Mincho uses the corrected forms, but Hiragino doesn't. In a test page, I disabled Hiragino (therefore reverting to the system's default serif font) and the characters appeared in their correct form.

Proposed solution: Please either disable the Hiragino font, or give us an option for disabling (or choosing) fonts in our settings.

[ssjoel3k]

I've attached some screenshots for reference...

PC (Accurate):

iOS (Inaccurate):

[m-jepson]

Has this been fixed? As an iOS and iPadOS user this worries me a bit, as I might be learning the wrong Kanji now?

[ssjoel3k]

Has this been fixed? As an iOS and iPadOS user this worries me a bit, as I might be learning the wrong Kanji now?

I haven't heard of any news of this being fixed yet. It would definitely be nice to see this issue resolved. I haven't heard any response to this, so I don't know if there are any plans on fixing it. With that being said, it only affects a small number of kanji. You won't necessarily be learning the "wrong" kanji, but just a less common way of writing it. Japanese kanji are split into 新字体 (shinjitai or "new character") and 旧字体 (kyuujitai or "old character"). While most characters use the newer form (新字体) there are cases where the older form (旧字体) is more common. The font that iOS defaults to on Kanji Koohii appears to favor the 新字体 in cases where it's not very often used, like the 噌 in みそ（味噌). (It ends up looking like 口+曽 instead of 口+曾) If you're using the RTK books to follow along, or if you're using this on PC then you won't have that issue, but if you're using it on iOS, you might find that you're learning the less common way of writing those kanji. It's not a bad idea to pair Kanji Koohii with apps like "Kanji Lookup" which will teach you the correct way to write these characters (and sometimes show you the different ways to write it when both are often used).

[fabd]

I found an old email that suggested to use Hiragino Mincho ProN

Koohii is using an inaccurate font for Kanji study. Currently, it appears that (at least on macOS), the selected font is Hiragino Mincho Pro. This font uses the JIS90 forms of kanji, meaning that characters like 辻 only have a single dot. If this font is changed to "Hiragino Mincho ProN," it will use the JIS2004 convention, which properly displays 辻 with two dots. The N suffix on fonts should denote that they comply with the JIS2004 standard and appropriately display kanji.

I'll try to look into it with my iPad when I have the time. This is more actionable for me than changing the whole font stack, using Hiragino Mincho ProN and then fallback to Pro.

[fabd]

Note to self: perhaps I should create a font page which nicely displays a bunch of problematic RTK characters so I can ask people to send me a screenshot to verify how they are displayed on their device.

There is no such "font testing" page as of yet.

[ssjoel3k]

Thank you for getting back to me on this! It would be great to see the kanji in their proper forms (per the JIS2004 convention).