Asahi characters; simplified kanji used by the Asahi Shimbun
Historical term for simplified kanji forms once adopted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper; not part of modern standard Japanese.
Asahi characters are simplified kanji that were used by the Asahi Shimbun for a period after the war.
From 朝日 (Asahi, referring to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper) + 文字 (character). The exact derivation is straightforward; the term refers to the newspaper's proprietary simplified kanji set.