Episode: 003 and 004
Time Count: 18:36 + 11:47
Forgot to post yesterday. By the way, I couldn’t find episodes 3 and 4 on youtube (they do have 1, 2 and 5 though), so I added the apple podcast link…
Listened to episode 2 on the drive to work today. I noticed in the intro that not only is this podcast for learners to practice their Japanese, but also to get used to the flow of Japanese conversation per se, including あいづち.
I was more aware of the background music this time. I’m not sure what I think of that so far. I think it probably makes it easier to pay attention for the length of the episode.
Also like the three topic structure. Breaks up the episode nicely into easier chunks.
Think I understood this one well enough for being not the most knowledgeable about cars.
Not used to things that aren’t youtube, so trying to not be thrown by that.
Intro seems to start the same as it has been so far.
The overall topic is 車生活, and the smaller ones I barely heard but its in the text.
Topic 1:
Japanese cars are popular. One of them has a pink car but mentioned black or white are more popular. Luggage, I think they’re talking about car size and what you can’t fit in a small one. Troubles with a car: I think she said her car is light (as in weight) so it’s easy to slip away (like on ice or something?) Something about electric cars. Other one has a small car but it is heavy? They’re talking about typical weights of cars. The first girl again, because she has a pink car people know that it is owned by a woman. Talking about the roads, they are narrow in Japan.
Topic 2:
One of them got her car 2nd/3rd year of uni during summer holidays. Just realised 自動車学校 will be a school for learning to drive, not talking about cars in normal schools. Prices, one of them had to practice every day. One strict woman teacher, but she was a good teacher. There was a part of the lesson where people said they understood but actually didn’t even know what was being talked about. I’m unsure on the nuances of 結構 but that’s how difficult it was. I think they’re talking about the marks they got in the test, one mentioned she missed her side mirror?
Lots of university students there for just a short time, but she was there for a long time and met a lot of friends. Lots of people don’t own a car. People who have a license but don’t own a car are called a “Paper Driver.”
Topic 3:
Cars are expensive, there’s quite a bit you need to pay for. I’m not expecting to know all the car pieces they’re naming as costing money. Having a car in Tokyo is more expensive. 500円 for something the other pays 300円 for. I think they are refering to how much it costs to park in a car park all day. Gasoline, so now they’re talking about keeping the thing fueled.
What is the けいおん they keep mentioning? googles Music? So the car radio? Or the car horn or alarm could also be it. (I doubt they are talking about the anime) Anyway, they’re talking about another enxpensive this. けいおん is convenient, but scary, so maybe the alarm version. It cost somebody 十万円, which is like 500quid at today’s exchange rates. Basically cars are expensive.
Episode end, and the summary is: expensive. Also said something about what life is like without a car, I think one said you’d need a bike. So, that’s another reason to not live in Japan.
This week I didn’t take notes while listening.
One of them has a pink Daihatsu Tanto. I think they’re talking about Kei cars, but I had the same problem as @RebBlue and I didn’t catch the word they kept repeating, which sounds like “keion”…
20min soaking in the bathtub while reading a book sounds so relaxing 
Not 「けいおん」but 「軽四」
That website’s dead here, but I got what I needed from the preview. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing, that was exactly the question I wanted answering after listening to episode 3. Yahoo Japan is no longer accessible in Europe. I had a look with a VPN and actually there isn’t any more to the page than what’s in the preview above!
An image search shows pictures of the 軽四 - they are funny looking cars!
This was surprising for me, so much so that the beginning was very confusing. Once that cleared up my understanding I think was pretty decent if I do say so myself.
Figured out how to make it bigger so I can use timestamps.
(00:00) intro as usual
(00:45) introducing todays overall and smaller topics, which aren’t in the text so I’m listening for them. There are two today, unlike the three in previous episodes. 1 = the meaning of baths, 2 = things you do inside the bath.
やまむ’s voice is more difficult than きび’s, not sure if that’s just this episode.
(01:12) A quiz again? やまむ used the internet to make it. I think about how long the bath lasts for, which is counted in minutes. きび guessed four minutes and then she guessed ten, and said personally that hers are 3 minutes. This seems awfully short for a bath, so I missed something. They are commenting that it’s a waste of water so maybe I did hear right? So, she knows Japanese people tend to like baths so that’s why her guess is 10 minutes. If I’ve gone to the effort of filling a bath with water, I’m in there for at least an hour.
(02:53) The actual answer was for men, 28 minutes. Which is oddly specific so I’m assuming that’s an average. For women, 35 minutes. Apparently, I’m an outlier and should not be sounted. やまむ says she’s in for 20 minutes, and she thought that was long.
空の軌跡 (All of a sudden the kiseki onsen scene makes more sense, Dorothy expecting to be waiting half an hour is much more reasonable than the multiple hours I thought they meant.)
(03:31) Something about how it’s calm so it’s short? きび mentioned how her baths are even shorter than the men. Something about everyone has a long bath, and きび says if it’s warm. More baths in the summer? They say going in the bath makes your body more 元気. Because it’s relaxing? やまむ has her bath after eating and before bed, and then has a shower in the morning. Now they’re talking about how they can’t (aren’t able to) have a shower in the evening as well as in the morning. Because it’s a pain.
(05:45) Second theme. きび is asking やまむ what she does because she’s in there for such a long time. やまむ says she reads a book, and does her best to not drop it in the water. She also might listening to youtube and stuff. Maybe an anime episode. The things she doesn’t do in the bath is work, talk on the phone, or bring her smart phone with her. All she brings is a book. I’m not understanding what きび does in the bath.
やまむ says her parents just hang out in the bath, … and recite あいうえお? Some people recite the hiragana or count while in the bath, something about children… I think the reciting/counting is for children to not get out too quickly or keep them entertained or something?
Now talking about shampoo, やまむ always gets the same brand with a nice smell. きび chooses based on colour, she likes pink red or blue, and also likes a nice smell. Talking about presents and stuff I’m thinking shampoo is a false friend and more like bubble bath? Jisho just says it is shampoo so maybe I’ve overthinking it.
Episode 4
I thought they were remembering being children and going in the bath with their parents. Then in the bath they would play games - like singing あいうえお song.
Episode: 005, 006 and 007
Time Count: 5:52 + 6:54 + 21:02
I just noticed I made a small mistake in the schedule and included Ep 4 twice (or 7 twice, not sure of it), so I will try to fix it either this evening or tomorrow 
Oo, three episodes this week. While the episodes are broken down into smaller chunks by being broken into three topics, it still seemed easier having shorter podcasts for the first two this week.
Podcast 6 - I really wondered what トイレへ行きたいとき was going to be about! It made sense once I listened to it. I thought their reflection on being in South Korea was quite interesting, and I hadn’t realised there were so many places to go to the toilet when out in Japan. I went to lots of コンビニ but don’t remember them having bathrooms. Either I’ve forgotten or I didn’t spot them - my only trip to Japan was quite a few years ago now.
I enjoyed the 5th one cause it was fun, relatable, and!! obviously I understood everything haha
I also think going to a cafe or a bar and saying, “just my usual, please” is such an adult thing lol
I hadn’t realised that コンビニ had public access toilets either! コンビニ are truly convenience stores! Listening to this episode, brought back memories of having to pay to use public toilets here in Australia when I was a very small child. They were coin entry (pretty cheap) but inconvenient if you didn’t have coins. And just like they mention in the episode, they weren’t particularly clean despite having to pay for the privilege. Since then though virtually all public toilets here (at least in the states I’ve lived in & visited) are free (and some are reasonably clean) but the problem is now that they are frequently locked & you have to ask someone for a key which means they often cannot be used after hours.
I was also interested to hear their comments on park toilets in Japan being dirty, risky & mixed sexes. I’ve certainly been to public toilets in Japan (admittedly these experiences are from years ago) where all three of these things applied. I always found having to pass a man busy at a urinal on my way to the toilet cubicle somewhat surprising (this happened in both restaurant toilets and public toilets)
Lots of bits where I got the gist of what they were talking about but not any of the details.
This looks to be a difficult one, so it’s just as much as I can get from it and not worrying about all the rest. Reading the topics first, it’s about how the school day is spent with the three topics being morning, lessons, and after school.
(00:00) Introducing as normal.
(01:20) First off explaining primary is 6 years from 7 years old, middle school and highschool are 3. You learn life rules at school and lots of homework and studying. Rules like study and do your homework and don’t be late
(02:50) Topic 1:
School starts early in the morning, about 8 which is when you need to put your shoes in the boxes. They’re talking about something about being late and how the teacher reacts I think? Tokyo time is different from normal time? Not only in the morning but also for lessons, I think saying about being late still.
Now talking about commute, やまむ said she bikes? Or, maybe that if you see a bike you know how old the student is. Most people take bikes or bus, but some people came via car.
Not sure what the せき bit is talking about but it’s inside the classroom. Seat? I think they’re talking about the teacher choosing where you sit.
(08:00) Topic 2:
How long are lessons in high school? きび said hers were 50 minutes, やまむ said 1 hour. Talking about how many classes and how long lunch is. Everyone in her homeroom was something.
They are discussing teachers, one came from America. きび is talking about her science teacher. やまむ about her art teacher. I’m not entirely sure what they’re saying about these teachers. きび mentioned normally they study in class with the teachers teaching, やまむ mentioned sometimes they’d have little tests.
I caught 犯人, maybe someone cheating on the test? きび thinks teachers are scary. Because there were a lot of rules to follow. やまむ I think was talking about getting into trouble, きび said she got into trouble once. She didn’t do her homework and the teacher was angry, but I don’t understand why this was a lucky/good thing.
(14:08) Topic 3:
One said school finished at 17:00, and then she had club for an hour and a half.
やまむ mentioned her club had piano, everyone in her school joined an indoor club. She’s discussing a few of the different once. At きび’s school, there were a lot of people who didn’t join a club. They had cram school. Talking that the schedules were busy, that it’s difficult and tiring to be a student. How talking after clubs, everyone would go to コンビニ and buy a bread. Price of something was 三百円.
At times there was no club, やまむ said that was only when there were exams. On saturdays, just hanging out after school. きび said on days with no clubs or 塾, something something teacher something something park. Something money, something spending a long time together.
I think きび said she did not miss school because of the schedule or something along those lines.
Next episode is about school as well.
Episode: 008, 009 and 011
Time Count: 10:27 + 9:33 + 6:42
Episode 10 is just a minute long. With ep 12 being 21 min long, I felt like there wasn’t really a good way to divide this and next week for now (apart from breaking ep 12 in 2, but I don’t think that would be great) so we have two slightly shorter weeks. Good if anyone needs to catch up
Listened to episodes 8 and 9 today.
Episode 8 was mostly fine, except that I didn’t know that 生理 meant menstruation, and it was only during the episode that I figured out the title (I was listening in the car and didn’t check what the title of the episode meant before).
Episode 9 I was mostly lost, I’ll have to relisten to it. Since the topic is superstitions, they keep changing the subject, which was hard to follow. While I was still processing one sentence in my head they were already talking about a completely different superstition…