There are indeed many Chinese characters, or kanji, in the Japanese writing system. This is because the Japanese writing system was heavily influenced by Chinese characters when it was first introduced to Japan around the 5th century.
At that time, Japan did not have a writing system of its own, so they adopted Chinese characters to represent their spoken language. These Chinese characters were used primarily for their meanings and not their pronunciations. Over time, the Japanese adapted and modified these characters to fit their own language structure and pronunciation.
As a result, while many kanji still retain similar meanings to their original Chinese counterparts, they may be pronounced differently in Japanese. Furthermore, with the development of kana scripts (hiragana and katakana), which represent sounds rather than concepts, the Japanese writing system became more versatile and flexible.
Today, kanji remains an integral part of the Japanese writing system. It is used alongside hiragana and katakana in everyday written communication. While learning kanji can be challenging due to its complexity and large number of characters, it allows for concise expression and adds depth to written texts in Japanese.
It's important to note that despite sharing some similarities with Chinese characters, modern Mandarin speakers may not necessarily understand all kanji used in Japanese due to differences in pronunciation and usage over time.