It’s the one-year anniversary of our first WK 24-hour Readathon event 
The Readathon is back for the summer solstice – the longest day of the year! And we’re celebrating the sun via pages of a book. This is the perfect time to bring out any novels, manga, visual novels, news articles, non-fiction, and more to join in on a special day with the community. If you’re ready to read, you’re ready to participate!
How it works: On Saturday the 21st, whenever it begins and ends in your local timezone, read as much in Japanese as you can! The day before or after are also acceptable if scheduling conflicts arise for you. Keep track of your progress in a way that makes sense for your medium: pages or characters, and the time spent reading them – when you’re finished, report your final numbers in the community “results” reply below and we’ll tally our collective amount together.
There is no expectation for the amount you read, or the difficulty, and anyone is welcome to join!
Participation:
Set your goals, make a post if desired
Read during your 24 hours
Add your results to the community tally
To join in, you’re invited to make a post with your goals: Are there any series you’d like to start/complete? How many pages do you think you’ll read before time is up? Add some personal challenges if you’d like, or simply try to squeeze in a few extra pages to add to our numbers.
Choose your Readathon time. Will you be reading day-of? Need to defer to the day before or after? Throughout your 24-hour period, post updates with your progress. Let us know when you finish something, reach a milestone, or simply can’t read another word without your brain melting.
When your 24 hours come to a close, tell us your results! Compare them to your goals: did you exceed your expectations, or were you too ambitious with your plans? Did you finish anything that was mind-blowingly good? Did you catch up to a book club you were behind in?
Add your final numbers to the “Results” post in the next reply below. It will be opened to the community at the start of the event – don’t forget to add your time and pages before it closes again!
FAQ
Do I need to read for 24 full hours?
No, this challenge takes place over a 24-hour period, but you are only expected to read for the amount that you’re able during that time. Some of us may make it a personal challenge to read for as many hours within that period as possible, but even 1 hour of reading is an admirable feat.
Can I combine my time from the day before and after, too?
No, the addition of multiple days allows flexibility for those who want to participate but would otherwise be inconvenienced by a strict date. Please do not add reading stats that did not occur during your 24-hour reading period.
Do the books need to be in Japanese?
Yes, this challenge is meant to encourage us to read more Japanese. If you read other language books, please do not count them in the overall tally.
Am I required to post updates?
No, updates are simply a fun way for us to create a community event, but they are not necessary for participation.
Goals:
The primary standings come from per-reader averages. This is to benefit readathons that have fewer participants and therefore lower raw numbers, as well as to celebrate our community effort. We are reading together, after all! The previous averages then become the goal to beat in our next event.
One year ago, the very first 24-hour Readathon was held! Sixteen participants stepped up for a single day of reading, unsure of the structure and parameters but willing to try something new. Since last year, we’ve learned that we can use these events for quarterly assessments of our reading skill, tracking how much stronger we’ve gotten or how our reading tastes have changed. And, most importantly, we’ve been able to come together for a weekend of fun in every season, reading with fellow nerds around the globe 
For this anniversary event: I propose a special challenge with TWO goals to beat! The first being our customary goal of beating the previous event’s results (Spring '25). And the second goal, the extreme goal: to double our numbers from the first Summer event! 
C-can we do it? 
 |
Event | Avg. Time | Avg. Pages | Avg. Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 Winter '24 |
6hr 10min | 210 | 11.4k |
 |
 Spring '25 |
5hr 8min | 256 | 5k |
 |
 Fall '24 |
4hr 50min | 193 | 12.0k |
| Summer '24 |
2hr 40min | 156 | 3.5k | |
| ?? | Summer '25 |
Full Results
Chronological raw numbers and thread links
| Event | Finishers | Time | Pages | Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer '24 |
16 | 43hr 50min | 2574 | 56.5k |
| Fall '24 |
33 | 160hr 42min | 6426 | 405.3k |
| Winter '24 |
22 | 137hr 26min | 4632 | 252.3k |
| Spring '25 |
32 | 164hr 29min | 8204 | 161.8k |
Let’s read!
- I will participate!
- I will try to participate
- I’ll wait for the Fall Equinox
- No read, book evil
Want some seasonal inspiration? Add a “beach episode” into your readathon goals! Any stories or nonfiction passages that involve the beach fulfill this extra challenge 
I check the numbers a few times per day to make sure the many results add up to the total at the bottom. If you don’t want to add your results for fear of breaking the table, please don’t hesitate to ping me (
This book explicitly tells me how many characters I’ve read, but it does not tell me any page numbers, so I would report 40.1k characters for this book in my results:
You’re a stronger soldier than I…
Pandora’s Summer Readaton Goals 
I work a shift that Saturday (why is it so that the Readathon is always on my one work weekend in the month 
Just like practicing for the day of an exam (or running for a real marathon), it’s time to practice reading for longer stretches of time 
I’ll make my home post closer to the start of the event.
But also a bit nervous as my reading has dipped recently. Hoping to read lots of things and remember why I like them and want to read them in the first place to hopefully lead into more reading more frequently.
Javerend’s Summer Readathon Goals 
