[Jackie07]

'Kanji' (in Japanese) is not just a 'style' of writing. It (literally) means 'Chinese (Kan) character (Ji = word)' Before the modern era, most official documents in East Asian countries were written entirely in Chinese. People spoke their own regional dialects, but wrote everything in Chinese. After they were exposed to the Eropean culture and the phonetic system, these countries devised their own 'alphabets' and 'written' form. (Japan did it first in 810 AD - devised by a Buddhist monk, way ahead of her neighbors.)

The Japanese use 1500-4000 Chinese characters (Kanji) in their language system for practical reasons. They are so good at it, many of the 'modern' Chinese terms - new concepts borrowed from the West - were first 'created' by the Japanese and later adopted/modified by the Chinese. This language tie possibly was one of the reasons why the Japanese military leaders thought they could invade China and other Asian countries to create an 'East Asia Mutually Prosperous Circle' to 'counter the Western invasion/colonization'.

Highly educated Japanese esteem themsleves for their ability to write poems in the traditional 'Chinese' way (using 'Kanji' in calliography and Japanese paintings) Kind of a 'stylish' way, I guess.

[Sorry for being off topic. Am just following the teaching of Confucius - "You've got to get the definition right!"

Here's a link to 'Kanji' as a 'style' of food: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee
ps. Can't help but think of the terrible sufferings the Japanese are now enduring from the earthquake and tsunami. Sending my prayers...