The problem is compounded by the fact that in Chinese, there are "traditional" and "simplified" versions of many characters (with the Japanese character usually

The problem is compounded by the fact that in Chinese, there are "traditional" and "simplified" versions of many characters (with the Japanese character usually, but not always, being the same as the traditional Chinese one). And let's not even get into the different writing styles. The distinction between different characters and different ways of writing the same character is not always clear.