ロジカとラッカセイ ・ Rojica and Rakkasei 🥜 (Beginner Book Club)

Lmao I’ve literally used google translate on this page before. Never even noticed the language drop down. Thanks for pointing it out. :joy:

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Hi! It’s my first time joining a Book Club here and excited to join everyone! I’m a little confused on how to purchase the book if I’m not living in Japan. Seems like the physical copies are only available in Japan? If I have a kindle, I have to get a Amazon Japan membership? Is there any other option? Thank youuu~~

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You need to make an Amazon Japan account for kindle, it’s not really hard though, just go on the JP site and make an account, but make sure it isn’t the same as your normal account from your home country.

You can also use bookwalker for digital.

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protip - if you use different passwords for your amazon accounts, you can even tie them all to the same email address, and the kindle app seems to figure out which one you want to login to based on the password.

…at least that’s how it works for me. Who knows how amazon works?

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If you want physical, ordering from CDJapan (linked in the home post) lets you ship internationally very easily. It’s what I use for physical orders; however, one book is usually not worth shipping, so I rarely buy physical unless I’m ordering in bulk.

If you want to order from Amazon, you do have to have a Japanese account regardless of it is digital or physical, and you do have to have a Japanese address listed, either by putting a nonsense one, or by using a forwarding service like Tenso (which only charges you when you actually ship using it, but just having an address with it is free, as I recently was told).

Regardless, if you have the JP address as the primary one on the account, you can then add a secondary address for your actual address and ship directly there from Amazon (at least, this is the case in the US and Canada. Not sure about elsewhere).

Other digital options if you don’t want to use Amazon is just to use Bookwalker (also linked in the home post). You can change the language for Bookwalker to English (but still shop JP manga) if you don’t feel comfortable shoppinb in Japanese yet, but either way, it’s also quite simple. Just create an account, buy, and download. Pretty sure they have their own app, as well, but you can also read directly in browser, if you prefer.

I have a Kindle that I have specifically for Japanese, so I prefer the Amazon route (even if I cringe at putting more money in their pocket, the convenience is undeniable), persoanlly, but Bookwalker is probably more immediately user-friendly if you don’t want to set up what you need to for Amazon (a specific device that only uses your JP login for Kindle, the address, separate account from your existing Amazon account, etc).

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Two more notes on Kindle and Bookwalker:


In other news, I finally put up the schedule! And I can’t wait to start the first thread in about 7 hours. Thanks for joining me in (re)reading one of my favourite manga, y’all!

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I’m willing to bet that Amazon just tries to log you into each site in some order until it finds one that works.

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I get books exclusively on Bookwalker and use Mokuro too, there are some discussions in the thread you linked about how to make it work, and if anybody can’t figure out and comes and ask they will receive help to set it up too :slight_smile:

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If you want a physical copy I recommend manga-republic.com. There’s no shipping charge, so that makes it possible to buy just one volume without wasting a lot of money.

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Ah I completely forgot we were going to be reading now, thought we still had some time left lmao

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Awesome recommendation, I didn’t know they shipped worldwide! I’ve been using Verasia (EU) for purchases, but they charge for shipping + often have books out of stock and just don’t have that much of a large selection overall.

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In place of the shipping charge they just overcharge for the books themselves. As you said, it’s cheaper for a single book. But if you’re buying in bulk CD Japan or Amazon will be far cheaper than Manga Republic.

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It’s time! Put on your favourite vinyl record, and join me for week 1 of Rojica and Rakkasei!

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Hi everyone! I am new in the forums, and would like to start participating in a book club. I am not sure, though, if my level is enough to follow along in the begineer book club. I have a N5-N4 comprehension level of grammar. I am almost finished with lesson 9 vocab and midway through level 10 for kanji. Should I give this book club a try? What is your opinion based on experience?

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Welcome to the forums and the book club, then!

edit: Ah, after seeing your edit - yeah, I also recommend what Gorbit says in the next post if this is your first manga/book. (Though you’re welcome to give either a try. I think both have previews on Amazon/Bookwalker.)

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You might struggle quite a bit, but that’s normal, doesn’t matter at what level you start. Though the beginner book club is mainly for those that are already somewhat experienced with reading (as in they’ve read one or two easier manga already), and want to challenge themselves a bit. This is reflected both in the number of questions asked, and the pace.
You might want to first give the Absolute Beginner Book Club a try, coincidentally they’ve just started their current read this week, so you can very easily join in.

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I think you’ll be fine. The point of participating in these book clubs is to learn things you don’t know, personally I think basic understanding of grammar is enough to read. I learn most of my grammar through natural means like watching/listening or reading. From what I’ve seen, most like to learn with textbooks or online resources, but I just want to state that there are other options if you’re not into that.

I think you can try the book out, or you can try the absolute beginner book club like Gorbit said, either way, you should get something out of it.

I’d recommend looking into using something like Mokuro with yomi chan to make the search ups quick, allowing for a less painful experience.

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A bit earlier because I’m not sure I’ll have time tomorrow:

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