Hello, readers! The 24-hour Readathon event has returned for the shortest day of the year! If you’ve never participated with us before, readathons are a fun way to pack a ton of reading into a single day. It’s a good excuse to start a manga/novel/story/VN that you’ve been waiting to dive into, or finish some that you’ve been meaning to complete.
How it works: Choose a specific 24-hour period during the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, whenever it begins and ends in your local timezone, and read as much in Japanese as you can! Keep track of your reading in a way that makes sense for your medium: time, pages or characters – when you’re finished, report in 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:
If you would like to join in, you’re invited to make a post with your goals: Are there any volumes you’d like to start/finish? How long do you think you can read in one sitting? How many pages do you think you can reach 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 tally.
Choose your Readathon time. Is Saturday or Sunday better for your schedule? Are you a night owl reading from 12pm Saturday to 12pm Sunday? Need to defer to Friday or Monday? Throughout your chosen 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 chosen day comes to a close, make a post with your results! Compare them to your Goals post, did you knock your expectations out of the park, or were you too ambitious with your plans? Did you finish anything that made you say “good riddance”? Did you catch up to a book club you were behind in?
→ Check out the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox threads for some goals/updates/results inspiration 
Results:
The results are a community tally, so every little bit you read contributes to our overall result. The Winter Solstice is dangerously close to multiple major holidays – can we manage to beat any of our previous records?? 
 |
Event | Avg. Time | Avg. Pages | Avg. Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Fall '24 |
4hr 50m | 193 | 12.0k |
| 2 |  Summer '24 |
2hr 40m | 156 | 3.5k |
| ?? | Winter '24 |
? | ? | ? |
Full Results
Summer Solstice 2024:
| Participants | 16 |
| Time | 43hr 50m |
| Pages | 2574 |
| Characters | 56.5k |
| Sources | 44 |
Fall Equinox 2024:
| Participants | 33 |
| Time | 160hr 42m |
| Pages | 6426 |
| Characters | 405.3k |
| Sources | 88 |
Once the weekend begins, I’ll make the Results post a wiki so we can add our final numbers.
Let’s read!
- I will participate!
- I will try to participate
- I’ll wait for the Spring Equinox
- I hate reading, and fun, actually
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 tally my time from the entire weekend?
No, the addition of a weekend rather than one specific 24-hour period allows flexibility for those who want to participate but would otherwise be inconvenienced by one date. The winter solstice event itself takes place on Saturday, 21st December – feel free to use this date as your chosen 24 hours if you wish to stay true to the holiday.
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.
Want some seasonal inspiration? Add a snowy winter-themed story to your goals 
results
taiyousea’s winter readathon goals 
黒執事 1 (
僕のヒーローアカデミア 1 (
すずめの戸締まり (
春の旅人 (
三毛猫ホームズの宝さがし (
ナルト 5 (
とんがり帽子のアトリエ 5 (
鋼の錬金術師 3 (
On one hand it’s easy to get distracted by the scenery outside, on the other hand there’s not much to do on the train, so I’m probably going to read anyway 
ごめん！
If you read on Friday, you’re more than welcome to reply with your results on Saturday/Sunday when you’re settled post-travel. The great thing about there being such a spread of timezones represented is that the readathon thread is usually consistently active at all hours over the weekend. A delayed results post wouldn’t be out of the ordinary at all!
