Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
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Read-along Sessions
Come and read from the previous week’s section, join in the chat about this book (also the previous book, possible future books, WK reviews, all things Japan-related, what else you did on the weekend, etc) or just lurk and listen. Readers of all speeds and abilities welcome - we are here to help each other out. Reading sessions will be held every Sunday at 9:30pm JST.
Week 9 session (in your timezone): Sunday, December 8, 2019 12:30 PM TZ
Participants
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I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
Still 2 pages to go, but it’s late and I want to sleep… But first, a question~
P. 126ish the taxi driver says 色恋ざただね。I found 色恋 in my dictionary with the expected meaning, but how does ざた figure in there?
There was one other before this somewhere but I can’t find it right now. I’ll either ask later or more likely remember when we’re reading out loud on Saturday. ^^
I really liked that spontaneous phone call they had… Or, みかげ’s spontaneity this week in general.
This is during the conversation between Chika-chan and Mikage. I believe I understand the sentence, but I’m not really sure in what sense is あんまり being used at the end.
──さすが水商売、やることはやる。ツボは押さえてるわ。
This is after Chika-chan gives Mikage the note with Yuuichi’s inn’s address and phone. I feel that ツボは押さえてる is probably a set phrase or something, but I have been unable to find what it means.
At 59%
車窓をゆく、きりりと晴れた景色を見つめて、私は自分の内部に生まれたとほうもない距離を呼吸した。
I am not sure how to interpret the last part here. “I (breathed? harmonized? synced?) with the extraordinary distance that was born within myself” (… doesn’t make any sense to me…)
At 60％
私はうなずいた。白木の匂いがするその新しい店は、手のゆき届いた感じのいい雰囲気だった。
This part is just after Mikage orders a Katsudon. I am having trouble figuring out with 手のゆき means…
This is after Mikage and Yuuichi’s phone conversation ends.
I’m quite lost in this sentence. So at first Mikage seems to be talking about この無力感 (this feeling of powerlessness), but there seems to be a sudden change with なにかが. So the first part seems to be “This feeling of helplessness, in this moment, I don’t want to make it end” and then “even though something is about to end”, but I can’t see how the two phrases are connected, or how it connects with the rest of the sentence.
I do believe this is one of みかげ’s many great introspective moments, and she is saying she’s ‘breathing in the incredible distance born in her’. At least as far as I can tell.
60%
ゆき届く means attentive, thorough, scrupulous. I took it as, the shop feels well taken care of.
62%
I believe the first comma may be in place of は, or at least that’s the particle I’d place there. And then she describes how her feeling powerlessness affects her right now, or what makes her feel so powerless maybe. In any case the part between the commas after 今 and before 少し is one complete phrase. I think you tried to break it apart before 何か?
My interpretation:
まさに目の前で終わらせたくないなにかが終わろうとしているのに
Although just now something in front of my eyes that I do not wish to let end is about to end
少しもあせったり悲しくなったりできない
I can not even get a little bit flustered or sad.
I’m not sure if this is because of her feeling of powerlessness that she can’t do any of that, or if she’s feeling powerless because she’s being so passive an dinactive about this.
For the first one, to me it reads kind of like ‘too much.’ The なんて is like ‘something like THAT’ and the あんまり is like ‘it’s too much’ (not literally, but like… seriously? too far, sort of feeling. In this case not so much exasperated, but in another context it would be, I think.
During the read-aloud session, we wondered whether I市 actually exists or whether it is just a placeholder for a city (like X-town or something); we assumed the latter.
Then, I accidentally came across a Japanese island called I island (伊島)
and this triggered my curiosity, so I did some more in-depth map exploration.
So, to start with her location, 伊豆市 is in Shizuoka Prefecture, on a peninsula south of Fuji-san.
Turns out there are two places called I in my Google Maps! The first one is in Osaka and is right in the city, so this cannot be it.
But the second one is in Shiga Prefecture, on the shore of lake Biwa, and is a part of a city called Maibara. That place is not too large, and there are mountains nearby, so maybe they are actually referring to that place? It is about 300 km from Izu, which sounds like an almost plausible distance as well (but maybe it is too far though). So, who knows
But first, a question~ 
I’m loving it really, but it does necessitate a second or third look… Or more. 
