I mean, think of it this way: it comes down to how often you come across words in any language including English (even in ENG: you may forget how to spell words correctly if you don’t use or encounter them often), kind of the same logic with Kanji: a Japanese person doesn’t know all Kanji in the same way English speakers doesn’t know every single word that exists in ENG.
There are over 5000 Kanji but only about half of that is used in Japanese or closer to 2136 while the remainder consist of ones only present within technical jargon (medicine, science, politics, etc.). or certain Kanji only has limited uses in some words (but mostly written in kana). That is also accounting for grammar being “straight forward” more than English or Euro languages.
The “real” hard part is numerous readings (depending whether it’s paired with kana or another kanji, reflected from kunyomi & onyomi plus nanori when applied in people’s names). What I hate about most online translators is that it often gets lost in translation (like words used in the wrong context but on their own it’s correct, however not right for the situation or topic at hand).
German certainly has a step learning curve in the beginning, but I would argue it gets easier if you’re an advanced learner. Most more complex words are just compositions of easier words, pronunciation makes sense, the complex grammar quirks are either not used in everyday life or irrelevant (nobody cares if your say der, die, or das for any noun that’s not Nutella).
English on the other hand is easy to start but the learning curve never flattens. To pronounce a word correctly you often have to know the specific word beforehand or you’re lost (like with read, thyme, zealot, advertisement, …). To understand a new word you often have to look it up because compositional nouns are less common. That makes many new cool words but is less accessible.
Japanese Kanji are complicated. Ask a Chinese person learning Japanese, they will give you a good rant. Or ask a Japanese person who has been living abroad for a few years, they often forget many Kanji and have to relearn them. Main reason imho is that a lot of this has grown organically and the world has changed a lot over the past centuries, so many things would be done differently today.