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!
Trigger Warnings
None known.
Proper Nouns
Feel free to add to this as new characters / places get introduced throughout the book.
Name
Reading
Notes
山岸 尚美
やまぎし なおみ
Main character
新田 浩介
にった こうすけ
Main character
Participation
Will you be reading along with us this week?
I’m reading along
I have finished this part ahead of the club
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 stopped reading the book
0voters
If you’ve already read this book but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this part.”
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
As I’ve finished (a first pass-through) of this week’s reading, I’ll start
Chapter 1
What a perfectly horrible client ! Unfortunately, I guess there actually are people like that….
I find it nice for a change that 尚美 is depicted as a woman with seniority and responsibilities in her job, and not as the lowest rung on the ladder….
So basically the police know it’s a serial killer case, but they don’t know how, who, why, or even clearly when, but they know where it will take place ?
Chapter 2
So we get a duo of 新田, who doesn’t won’t to be here, and doesn’t want to do this job , and 尚美, who doesn’t want him here, and doesn’t want him to do play this role. . What could possibly go wrong ?
Numbers : These look suspiciously like GPS coordinates…
Yay finished the first chapter! (So still have the second one to go for this week)
Was really happy to see that I could read the book without doing any lookups and get what happens, most of the unknown words I can infer the meaning either from the kanji or simply from the context.
I did that for the first 7 pages and then went back and now I’m reading with looking things up and filling the vocabulary sheet when I do. Super happy to see that my knowledge of kanji checks out and most of the times I know the readings! For when I don’t, KanKan is super handy.
Actually what I had the most trouble with so far is katakana >.< デラックスツイン, ベルキャプテン, ハウスキーピング, デリケート… :o
It does take me quite a bit of time though, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with the pace of the club. Maybe I will as my stamina builts up, and I get fast at looking things up, and maybe there is more unknown vocabulary as the book goes on… we’ll see. Oh well it doesn’t matter too much I guess, the threads will still be there when I get there to comment
Story comments Chapter 1
“We picked you (Naomi) because you are female and having two men at the welcome counter would look strange”
What? Did I understand that right? So weird, I never think about employees gender if I go to a hotel (or another place).
The part when she wanted to make him train his walking was a bit funny. It’s funny how you can be super good at something (he’s probably a great cop) and then be made to do something that is not your thing at all and look completely ridiculous. That’s always what I tell myself if I see someone struggling with something, I imagine that there’s something else that they are probably great at. I feel like it’s a pity when people forget that the other way around, and because they are expert on one thing, then they also use this influence to give their opinion on another thing, that really they know nothing about. Wow I’m really disgressing far away from the book’s story, sorry xD
So, back to the point. I don’t get why he’s not taking the advice, a better cover surely would mean better chances to stop the killer. Well basically just like Naomi tells him afterwards.
That’s always been my problem when choosing between ebooks and physical copies
I (physically) prefer books to e-reader
But there are a lot more opportunities for active learning on ebooks
But I end up looking every other words even though I know that I know them, and understand the sentence, but just to be sure in case I’m missing some nuance
And it ends up breaking my reading flow
But on the other hand, there are a lot more opportunities for active learning on ebooks……
I don’t either, but after having read your comment, and thinking back on it, it’s true I’ve always seen that in high end hotels (or hotels big enough to have more than one employee at the front desk)
Because he’s a man, and she’s a woman, I guess…. ( )
(Also, he’s a police detective, and she’s a lowly hotel clerk…)
Now, about the numbers.
Same as @Magyarapointe, to me those look like coordinates, latitude + longitude, but they are all three in the middle of the sea! (not too far from Japan though)
Thank you for taking the time and effort for this!
Chapter 2:
I am usually too lazy / interested but not quite interested enough to bother to look things like train stations up myself. With regard to the figures, I for some reason did not think about GPS coordinates at all (but did not come up with a different theory, either). Do not ask me why, since it would certainly have explained why they figured out that the next murder will likely take place at the hotel.
Oh yeah that could be (by the way can you put your post in Summary tag with “Chapter 2”? in case someone who hasn’t read that far yet comes across it )
Spoilers for the whole part.
Those are some interesting theories already. I’m pretty bad at figuring out mysteries on my own, so I didn’t think too deeply about those numbers. I like the idea that it could be coordinates of some kind!
I was wondering if we should be adding the names that showed up so far to the table. We don’t know yet how often they’ll appear, but
… Would that be helpful?
I made a table for the names in the vocabulary sheet not sure if it need to be repeated twice unless people prefer not to have to open a link to see the table
I think I can sympathize with 新田 a bit. The university I went to had a prestigious Hotel Administration program, and from an outsider’s perspective, it seemed weirdly uptight. IIRC students could lose points if they looked too sloppy when they attended a presentation (e.g. if they didn’t shave).
マスカレード・ホテル 
Week 1
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