Japanese was partly originated from Chinese language. In fact it
was built from Chinese language. Kanji took the form of mostly
traditional chinese characters. However, they are written with a
little difference. Kanji had been used in Japan as a sign of
education. For words available in both Kanji and Hirakana, you will
be considered lowly educated if you use Hiragana instead of
Kanji.
Many japanese words are also coined from English. For example,
coffee, banana etc. They sound close to English and are written in
Katakana.
Also, some japanese words sounds like chinese. For example,
library, weather, etc
