Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
Spoiler Courtesy
Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.
Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags
Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).
Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:
Example
This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.
The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.
This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.
Posting Advice
When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!
Live Readings
The next weekly live reading session will be 2023-02-26T12:30:00Z Join the Japanese Book Club Discord to either read or listen!
Proper Nouns
Feel free to add to this as new characters / places get introduced throughout the book.
Name
Reading
Notes
Participation
Will you be reading along with us this week?
I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
I’m reading this book after the club has finished
I’m no longer reading the book
0voters
If you’ve already read this book but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have read this part.”
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
I am not sure that I understand the concept and logic of the shifting between parallel worlds correctly.
I think that it is explicitly stated that when you shift into a parallel world you remain yourself and you stay at the same time.
So when our narrator shifts into a world where the girl has disappeared he cannot have shifted into a world decades ago, when the parallel worlds were yet unknown. On the other hand, if it is the same time, and the shifters are conscious of their shifting, it cannot be an unknown concept (except if the narrator is the only person having shifted into this world). Every shifter could “discover” the existence of parallel worlds and announce his discovery to the other people.
Another question is how the narrator comes to wonder whether he could save the girl in his previous world. He didn’t see anything happen to her, so maybe she backed up in time just as he did in his wheelchair.
Why would they both go to meet in the middle of the street in the first place? Normally I would expect the grandfather to wait on his side of the street and the girl to come towards him.
And a last question: What happens to changes I make in a parallel world? If he wrote his calendar entry in a parallel world, would he later see it when he shifts to another world? (Apparently you take your wearable device with you during the shifts.)
Please correct me if I misread something in these pages.
I just finished the prologue and I agree, it doesn’t seem very difficult.
Some of the things you raise were/are also unclear to me.
Some of my thoughts
Yes, I think you are right.
I took that passage as saying that the fact that he currently has no way of confirming which world he is in reminds him that there used to be a time when no one was able to do that. I don’t think he is literally saying that he is in that time, he’s just comparing his predicament with how things were before.
It wasn’t completely clear to me why he can’t ask passersby, but maybe for them they are in their ‘world 0’, so they can’t help him find out which world he is in?
Note that he did say that he might go to the city hall to get a replacement wearable but that that would take time.
I also found their behaviour in that scene a little strange. Maybe we just have to suspend our disbelief a little here Or maybe it actually becomes relevant/gets explained later, who knows.
A very astute observation! Now you are making me wonder about how that works indeed…
Correct, when you シフトする, the only thing that changes is your 意識 and from that I gather your perception of your reality, but the rest remains the same.
I think what the narrator meant is that there is chance that the world he shifted to is a world where people might not be aware of the shifting as was the case in the past, since until a certain scientist explained the phenomenon, people would 移動する to 平行世界 in a 無自覚 manner. But after re-reading it I see it’s phrased in a way as if he meant it literally, which then points him to his memories of the actual time when people were unaware of constantly shifting between parallel universes.
Maybe she did. But he also kind of might want to rely on him being a kind person and thus any “him” would save her?
Good question. I think it was another “him” who wrote the entry. So someone from another universe than the original universe 000. I don’t think one takes the wearable terminal with them. To my understanding the terminal identifies the universe you’re in. That’s why it was important for our protag to be able to read it. When he mentions the possibilities of the universe he ended up in after the girl disappeared
この数値が0ならここはゼロ世界だが
Also ended up finishing it in one sitting . It’s not super difficult, but there is some kanji at N1 level and some explanations might be a little above N3 level so N2 sounds fair. Later it might get more complicated when all of the scientific explanations come in.
Yeah, this part doesn’t seem explained really .
So far I’m quite sold on the overall theme of the book. However, starting off with the main protagonist dying of stomach cancer and spending his remaining time at home as a story’s opening only to delve into the past is a really depressing way of telling a story and for me personally if more stories started like this, but were actually a massive flashback, I don’t think I would read as much . I also remember that back in high school that kind of opening was considered Bad Writing™.
I am really enjoying it so far! I finished the prologue yesterday and went back today just to review it to ensure I understood. This is my first novel in Japanese, so I’m going through it slowly, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many words I know!
The parallel world stuff confused me a bit, specifically early in the story with the explanation of the 4 digits on the wearable computer, and what happened at the crosswalk. I think I got it now though!
Hmmm maybe I missed something (or I might be misunderstanding your question), but my understanding is that he didn’t wonder if he could save the girl. He wondered if the he from the parallel world that got transported to the crossing where the girl was, was able to save her.
We don’t know in what world he was when he woke up in the morning, but let’s say he was in parallel world M (in the narrative, he assumes it’s world 0, but he isn’t sure since he didn’t check his wearable in the morning). In world M he sees a girl standing in the middle of the crossing, in danger of getting run over. In the moment he extends his hand to her and exchanges a few words with her, he gets shifted to world X.
This implicitly means that the version of himself of world X is now in world M, extending his hand to the same girl. He’s wondering if that person was able to save the girl - specially considering he must have gotten confused by getting shifted. So it seems when people shift worlds, they are exchanged with the version of themselves in that world.
From the description, my understanding is that the girl doesn’t have enough time to go back - she can only walk towards ‘him’ to get saved. It says that she only has a few steps before she reaches his side of the walkway, and that the light is about to change.
もう あと 数 歩 で こちら 側 へ 渡り 終える 位置 なのに
So, going back is probably a lot more distance to cover.
Yeah, that’s what I assume - the “IP” (btw, well done author, using a commonly established acronym with a confusing new meaning… ) is how many “steps away” they are from their own “world 0”, which is probably the parallel world their consciousness was born in. I’d assume everyone’s devices are somehow primed to them and can only show their own IP, so it’s meaningless to ask other people - they could only tell them how far away they are from their world 0.
I understood it so that for whatever unexplained reason, the girl was standing in the middle of the road, so he decided to find out what’s wrong/get her to safety. I don’t think this is a normal situation for him either.
If only conciousnesses (and apparently memories, however that works…) shift, and then they shift back at some point - I’d assume so. I don’t actually remember if it occurs to him that the mysterious calendar entry in question could’ve been made by a parallel world “him”, but that seems like the most likely explanation to me.
Also, nope… this is definitely too hard for me. I can muddle through, but since it’s so much of a struggle (and oh so many lookups) it’s not very enjoyable. I guess the jump from L24 to L30 is a little bit too harsh after all, who could’ve guessed
I guess I’ll go for something around ~L26 first and work my way up before coming back to this book!
Ooooh… okay, this makes more sense than my earlier explanation and the IP acronym is then more meaningful than I initially thought.
I still need to wrap up コンビニ人間 today, cause it’s gotten really painful to read towards the end, but I’m super eager to come back to 僕が〜 and see what’s up in store for week 2 .
Tobias, I have found that in most books, the first chapter (or in this case the prologue) is the hardest part to get through. I’ve just read the second week’s section and I found it a lot more straightforward. Maybe give yourself one more week before you put this book on the backburner.
I‘ve thought about it up until now and I realized that it doesn’t make sense to me to join this read-aloud as I‘m not interested in the book at all (and also pretty busy with work and study and reading books I am really keen on reading) so I‘ll give this a pass. Sorry!
maybe I finally went beyond my plateau 
Or maybe it actually becomes relevant/gets explained later, who knows.
. It’s not super difficult, but there is some kanji at N1 level and some explanations might be a little above N3 level so N2 sounds fair. Later it might get more complicated when all of the scientific explanations come in.
.
. I also remember that back in high school that kind of opening was considered Bad Writing™. 
) is how many “steps away” they are from their own “world 0”, which is probably the parallel world their consciousness was born in. I’d assume everyone’s devices are somehow primed to them and can only show their own IP, so it’s meaningless to ask other people - they could only tell them how far away they are from their world 0.
.
