Great explanation! Thank you! Just to double check then, what we have here is 食べられる, the passive of eat, but the る of that is changed into てくる, and that is then turned into てきました.
I know this might be a dumb question (I’m full of them), but why is the てくる changed into てきました and not just てきます? I undestand the need to make it polite (the masu form) but why the past polite if the ending already suggests an action continuing from the past into the present. Or am I totally lost?! Thank you!
Well color me surprised. My book actually came tonight. Just in time for tomorrow!
Page 10
These are the notes I have actually written down in my book as I was reading this!
や = such things as, and, and the like.
But then we’d lose the sliding. Everyone would have to start each chapter at the same time. With a 4-page sliding progression, people can very easily catch up when they fall behind. I know that the ebooks have made this a bit difficult today, but let’s see how it goes over the next week or so. Other reading groups have also faced the same problem, but things generally settle down and start making sense very soon.
Maggie Sensei has a really great breakdown of why this is:
Verb + てくる ( = tekuru) From the time when speaker is thinking to the future. / habitual actions
Verb + てきた ( = tekita) From the past until the time when speaker is thinking.
Present/future tense:
Ex. 人気があがってくる
=Ninki ga agatte kuru.
= They will become popular from now.
(You are seeing their popularity subjectively.)
Past Tense:
Ex. 彼らの人気があがってきた。
= Karera no ninki ga agatte kita
= They have been becoming popular until now, but we don’t know what will happen at this point. They may continue becoming more and more popular or they may stop being being popular.
Additionally, you can see the ~てくる grammar point on Bunpro.
So from my understanding, that original example sentence is implying that the Japanese people have been eating fish up until now (they’ve been eating fish = past actions), but we’re not sure what will happen from this point on.
(I’m glad you brought this up because I just learned this now, too!)
I think I have a slight correction towards the end there, I think it should read something like:
“are delicious, aren’t they” or “don’t you agree?”
Unless I’m completely wrong (plausible) on my interpretation of the ね particle.
Mind you, I am guessing here 
They probably put the comma there because the sentence is already complex (or maybe just to make it easier for kids to understand?). I’m not sure if it’s standard practice, I couldn’t find any relevant example sentences with several のs, with or without commas.
Also, from Tofugu’s article:
Comma usage in Japanese is incredibly liberal compared to English. You can stick it pretty much wherever you want a break or pause in your sentence. Just don’t abuse the power, please, it, is, irritating.
By sliding progression do you mean the system of discussing page 10 on day 1, pages 10-11 on day 2, pages 10-12 on day 3, etc.? I think you could still allow talking about previous chapters even after we’ve moved on.
I wouldn’t suggest this if the chapters were long, I agree it would be counterproductive for beginners. But since they’re all super short and self-contained little texts, I thought we could make use of the book’s own division system, preserved in either book format.
But yeah, let’s give it a few days and see how we’re getting on first 
Sure no Problem. Like I said, first time for me, so I sure don’t know how this works, or should work. So far I just see a lot of people posting stuff 
I guess when my book arrives, I first try to read it myself, look up things if I’m unsure, search for an answer here and if all fails ask the question or give my interpretation of the translation if someone else did not already do that?
Will there be somewhere captured the “final” translation of the pages somewhere so that one could compare ones own or do I just post my own translation and other will comment in it and correct it?
Can’t wait to get started, if you cannot tell haha
Ah we already started! Its just now the first for me, exactly 12 am. Guess ill be doing two pages tomorrow to catch up 
So far people have only done one line here, one line there. But if you want to share your translation of a full page, do feel free =)
Anyone can, to check if people agree on their translations (so even if someone else already did a full page, you can still share your version for feedback)
イクラ is specifically salmon, so you were right! 
My sister LOVES them, but they just taste like little salt bombs to me.
Not sure where we are supposed to end as I’ve seen some people translating some things that seem to be on page 11, but here’s what I have translated today anyway
I left some of the food as untranslated as I’m not sure there is an English equivalent (i.e. for inarizushi)
Never translated anything before 
外国にも、おすしは あるの？
Does sushi also exist in other countries?
あなたは、どんな おすしが すきですか。
What kind of sushi do you like?
たまご？ まぐろ？ イクラ？ のりまき？
Egg? Tuna? Salted salmon roe? Norimaki?
いなりずしや、ちらしずしも いうしいですね。
Inarizushi and also chirashizushi are tasty aren’t they?
おすしは、子どもたちから お年よりまで、たくさんの 人に 人気の、日本の 食べものです。
Sushi is a popular Japanese food for many people, from children to the elderly.
That actually helped a lot! Thank you.
This is page 11, but it just won’t leave my mind, what the hell does 「すを」mean in the sentence: 「すを まぜると ごはんが 長もちするので、…」
Anyway, page 10 was pretty easy! This is going to be fun.
Ohh, immediately after posting this I see that it’s separate. す is vinegar. Disregard and I’m sorry for asking a question about page 11.
Thanks a lot, that の after 人気 was driving me mad.
The other thing that drives me mad is that I was totally unable to find いたりずし in any dictionary. I suposse I need to get used to the idea that sometimes I will have to just Google some stuff…
you mean いなりずし , it’s with tofu and vinegar
Okay, well that explains why we talk about vinegar with rice in the next sentence, then.
the next sentence talks about another dish : nagamochi 長もち
