I’ve been studying Japanese for almost six years now and I would say YES kanji is difficult, but it’s not insurmountable. It’s also one of the most interesting and fulfilling parts of learning the language.
There’s a certain level of “you have to know the rules before you know how to break the rules” but kanji can often be used in interesting nonstandard ways in literature & manga and just in general carry so much meaning and depth.
There’s always something new to learn. Did you know that there’s another version of 探す (to search) that has a slightly different connotation? 探す is usually used to search for something you want, but 捜す is used to search for something that’s missing.

By the way, do we have a Japanese learning community on Lemmy?

Depends on what you mean by “similar”. If you’re looking for the right thing, there are often a lot of phonetic hints in kanji.

For example, 矢 and 夫 sound completely different, totally unrelated. These are pretty basic kanji though; I think it’s analogous to how O and Q are totally different, or i and j.

If there’s more complex similarities though, then yeah there can be an implied phonetic relationship. Look at: 同胴洞銅恫桐粡. These can all be pronounced the same: どう (dou). Though, many of them have kunyomi readings that are totally unrelated.

I’m a MAL user but I love how quirky Kitsu is, like their broad definition of anime including My Little Pony and the top ranking being like 90% Demon Slayer recap movies (it’s an exaggeration now but a few years ago it would not be)

What’s your reasoning for pro-piracy?

You do not invent your own name sign. Name signs may only be given by a person in the Deaf community. Some hearing people (like interpreters and teachers) mistakenly give name signs without realizing they are in violation of Deaf culture traditions. However, a name sign cannot be assigned by a hearing person.

American Sign Language has deep cultural and linguistic significance. Typically, it is not until you are involved in the community that you are given a name sign. In fact, not everyone within the Deaf community has a name sign.

From article
It’s like a cultural thing. This still doesn’t really answer why it’s like that in the first place, but I think in general the reason it feels inappropriate to name yourself in another language is that it feels “cringe” for lack of a better word. Somebody picks a name that has all kinds of cultural and colloquial associations without understanding them at all.
That’s kinda my theory of cultural appropriation; it’s not wrong because of some deep ethical reason, but rather it’s just often uncool. People sending signals that they don’t understand themselves.

Spanish: pick your own name
Japanese: must use the Japanese-ified version of your name, eg Smith -> Sumisu, and people will usually refer to you by last name.

In retrospect, it was kinda strange to pick names in Spanish. It would be really strange / unacceptable to just pick a random Japanese name for yourself, and I’ve heard that it’s really rude to pick a name for yourself in American Sign Language. I wonder why it’s so widely accepted to do so for Spanish.