Alrighty, here we go. I’ve listed the kanji, and the level at which you learn it in WaniKani, and my best guess as to why it’s included - these are my personal opinions, and they could be wrong (maybe some of them are just there because Koichi likes how they look).
First set: Jinmeiyo kanji that aren’t Joyo kanji at all
| Kanji | Level | Possible reason |
|---|---|---|
| 乃 | 52 | Functions as posessive の in formal writing, especially on tombs, so you may encounter it |
| 之 | 55 | Functions as posessive の in place names (e.g. 中之条, onsen town in Gunma) |
| 也 | 45 | Often appears in male given names, read as や |
| 亮 | 51 | Appears in male given names, reading is りょう |
| 伊 | 47 | Appears in place names - for example 伊勢 (also a WK vocab) or 伊豆 or 伊賀, read as い (but very occasionally as だ, as in 伊達, which again is WK vocab). As WaniKani teaches, it’s also the kanji abbreviation for Italy (as in 伊太利) |
| 凌 | 58 | Jisho lists 凌ぐ (taught by WK) as a common-use word. It’s also a male given name, reading is りょう |
| 凛 | 56 | Female given name, reading is りん or りり |
| 吾 | 46 | Archaic way of saying “I” (吾輩は猫である by Natsume Soseki is a famous literary work), also appears often in place names and family names with the reading あ |
| 哉 | 57 | Appears in male given names with the reading や |
| 嘉 | 56 | Appears in more than a few place names and family names with the reading か. Also, several historical era names. Also, the card game karuta can be written in kanji as 嘉留多 (but as a foreign loanword, it’s usually not) |
| 噌 | 35 | It’s the そ in 味噌 (みそ). You’re going to see this, guaranteed. |
| 堰 | 50 | Means “dam”, a common thing around the place (though big ones usually use the English word, ダム) |
| 嬉 | 40 | New addition - it’s 嬉しい, 'nuff said. |
| 庄 | 46 | Reasonably common in place names. Aside from that, though, 荘 seems to be used more commonly in generic vocab (like 荘園 or 荘官, though 庄屋 is typically 庄) |
| 斐 | 39 | It’s the kanji used it 甲斐, as in 生き甲斐. 甲斐 is a place name in its own right, mind, but the vocab is often written 生きがい (due to 斐 not being Joyo) |
| 昌 | 55 | Fairly common in given names, where it’s read as まさ. |
| 智 | 56 | It’s the ち in 那智 (なち), Japan’s highest single-drop waterfall. I’m sure you’ve seen all the tourism photof it. It’ve been there. Also used in a few other place names. |
| 曙 | 53 | Could be a poetic term, maybe. It’s a place name, too. And a WWII destroyer. |
| 杏 | 54 | Well, it’s apricot - like most fruits, it’ll usually be written in kana, but most people will probably know the kanji. It’ll be written in places. Also a female first name, read as あん or あんず or occasionally きょう |
| 柴 | 56 | Shiba inu are famous even in the west. It also frequently appears in family names, and also there’s Shibata in Miyagi Prefecture. |
| 栞 | 54 | It’s a female given name, read as しおり or かんな. Not sure how common it is to use the kanji, though - it’s not on my list of common names at all. |
| 梓 | 59 | Girl’s given name - for example, Azu-nyan in K-On! spells her name with this kanji. Also, there’s an express train with this name. |
| 楓 | 57 | Girl’s given name, read as かえで, or sometikes just かえ |
| 淀 | 50 | I’m fairly sure WK teaches this purely because it wants to teach Yodogawa as vocab, but I don’t know the significance of that. 淀川区 is a ward in Osaka, for example, but there’s nothing on WK or Tofugu to explain why it excites them so much. |
| 漣 | 58 | Male given name, read as れん - there’s two footballers born in the nineties with this name, for example. Can also be a WWII destroyer, but it’s read as さざなみ in that case. |
| 烏 | 57 | Another common word with a non-Joyo kanji - it’s just からす, crow. Also used in a few names, like 烏丸 (からすま) |
| 瑛 | 55 | 美瑛 is a place in Hokkaido, but I’m not sure that’s big enough to warrant a mention on WK. Also a girl’s given name, read as あおい, あき or あきら. WK has no vocab using this. |
| 瑞 | 58 | It’s used in a few place names, like 瑞穂. It’s also the kanji for Sweden - 瑞典 |
| 瓜 | 53 | I’m actually kinda surprised this isn’t Joyo. It’s “melon” - you’ll see it in 西瓜 probably everywhere. |
| 笠 | 44 | I guess this is just a bit old-fashioned to be a Joyo kanji, but it’s occasionally used in names. Like Mikasa. (But not Mikasa from Attack on Titan, no - their names are all spelt in kana.) |
| 綺 | 28 | It’s the き in 綺麗. Too specialised to be Joyo, but still common enough that people will probably recognise it on sight. (Side note, the 麗 isn’t even Jinmeiyo.) |
| 緋 | 53 | Probably taught so that 緋鯉 can be covered. |
| 綾 | 52 | Used in proper nouns, mostly read as あや |
| 翔 | 45 | Jisho lists 翔る (taught by WK) as a common-use word. |
| 聡 | 51 | Used in given names, where it’s read as さと or さとし. Or, apparently, あきら |
| 胡 | 53 | It’s part of 胡瓜, which, like 瓜 above, is probably widely recognised. |
| 茜 | 54 | It’s a reasonably common girl’s given name |
| 莉 | 53 | It’s jasmine, but it’s also frequently used in girl’s given names. Like 茉莉 (まり) |
| 菅 | 58 | Common in surnames. 菅原 is the 97th-most-common surname in Japan |
| 萌 | 57 | もえもえきゅ～ん！ |
| 葵 | 53 | Girl’s given name, read as あおい |
| 蒼 | 57 | Also a girl’s given name read as あおい |
| 蒙 | 53 | It’s the kanji for Mongolia (蒙古) |
| 蓮 | 51 | Well again, it’s the lotus flower, something probably everyone would know. |
| 蝶 | 56 | Butterfly |
| 蟹 | 50 | Crab. Not sure what they’re getting at, omitting the Crabigator from Joyo. 鰐 isn’t even Jinmeiyo. |
| 諒 | 53 | It’s a given name read as りょう, but I’m not too clear on why that’s so significant. |
| 輔 | 52 | Fairly common in male given names, read as すけ |
| 遥 | 56 | Fairly common girl’s given name, read as はるか |
| 遼 | 55 | Girl’s given name, read as りょう. And, interestingly, はるか. |
| 阿 | 54 | Quite common in place names, read as あ. Also represents Africa (阿弗利加). And of course there’s 阿保. |
| 隼 | 52 | Falcon. Also the name of the Hokuriku Shinkansen. |
| 靖 | 56 | Taught because of its use in 靖国神社, but it frequently appears in given names (still read as やす) |
| 颯 | 52 | Taught because it’s in 颯と, but that’s usually written in kana. |
| 駿 | 53 | Male given name, read as はやお. It’s Hayao Miyazaki’s given name. 宮崎駿. |
| 鯉 | 53 | Koi carp. |
| 鳩 | 46 | Dove/pigeon. |
For the other set of Jinmeiyo kanji - the ones that are slight variants of kanji that exist as Joyo - near as I can tell, none of them are taught on WaniKani.
Whew, that took longer than I’d expected…