The use of kanji (Chinese characters) relative to kana (a phonetic script) in Japanese, has slowly and steadily declined in the Japanese language.
This graph shows the percentages of A words of Sinitic derivation written in kana, B words of Sinitic derivation written with kanji, C words of Japanese derivation written with kanji, and D words of Japanese derivation written in kana over the years 1879-1968. As you might expect, words in A increase very slightly. B shrinks linearly and a bit more rapidly. The ratio of C/D shrinks quite a bit[.]
There is every reason to believe that this trend has continued from 1968 to the present.
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