I also studied Japanese. Our teacher (who was a native Japanese person) admitted that one has to be of high school age before they know enough kanji to be able

I also studied Japanese. Our teacher (who was a native Japanese person) admitted that one has to be of high school age before they know enough kanji to be able to read a newspaper. Those kanji are in standard lists and part of those lists are what year (of school) they are to be learned by. For me, the harder parts were Keigo - the politeness levels and how essential they are.