In your defense I think 90% of the time this is the best approach, Occam’s razor and all that; especially when you’re speaking with people, I think the majority of the time everyone uses a regular reduced vocabulary/way of speaking that becomes routine and that’s natural! To be honest, as soon as I let go of the desire to use all the difficult kanji I learned on WK in my spoken Japanese, I started being understood waaay more consistently by people. But the nice part about writing is you get to employ ‘a different voice’. So (sorry for the ramble but,) yeah let’s defo try and stretch ourselves 
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Here’s this week’s reading session done over two days (on scrap paper at work so it’s not aesthetic boo!). I feel like writing kanji came really easily this week and generally this was a satisfying fun session yay! 
Vocab look-ups:
- seeing the kanji 云う for 言う for the first time!
- ヒゲ; no matter how many times I see this I always forget the word for mustache/beard despite it being in the name of one of my fav Japanese artists (Hige Dan) ~ it’s time to finally come up with a mnemonic to remember
Let’s see if that sticks haha
- 手配する to arrange/prepare
- 見逃す (みのがす) to overlook, miss
- ダチ friend (casual word)
- 仇 (あだ) foe, injury
We’re getting to the exciting finale of the first volume of Akira !!! I have around 50 pages left :o I love this story so much and I’m happy I’m still enjoying it. I’ll definitely continue on and start Volume 2 once I’m finished with this. Checking the study log, it seems I started reading the book July 10th 2023 so I’ll aim to finish before passing the 1 year mark haha ! Can’t believe it’s been so long, but hey, going slow seems to be my trademark 
(I’m sure Vol.2 will be significantly faster now I have a year’s worth of reading and studying behind me and becoming more familiar with Otomo’s writing style. That’ll be a fun bet to have with myself, to see by how many months I can beat vol.1’s record hehe!)
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I’ve been watching Mario let’s plays so now I feel like I’ll never forget ヒゲ as long as I live. (ヒゲ is even a stat in mario & luigi rpg)
Yayyyy! You can do it!
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As some of you might have read yesterday, I was feeling quite down (for no reason in particular; some days are just like this - I’m very excited to switch my contraception finally when I leave Japan bc I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be causing some of the sad sads) . I’m very proud of myself for posting despite the feelings! As for Japanese, I’ve been doing more wanikani this last week than I have for months which feels really good. I feel like it’s benefitting my writing (日記) a lot, which I wasn’t expecting! On a whim, I also redownloaded duolingo haha 
. Not much else to report regarding Japanese!
I remember chatting to @alygator a while ago about how…
and I have roughly 60 days until I leave Japan!! I don’t think I want to do anything crazy like ‘75 hard’ but I do think having some physical goals would be a nice idea. The most important thing is that it needs to be something that contributes to my physical and mental wellbeing rather than detracts from it (from being impossibly difficult or unrealistic, for example). So I think for now I’m just going to say:
stretch every day
and run twice a week
Typically I run 3 times a week but this year that number has drastically decreased (probably from a combination of being busier generally, getting more into hiking, and also feeling slight burnout/disinterest in running after the marathon last year). So I think aiming for 2 times is solid! As for stretching, this is something that I’ve been wanting to get back into for a while but after the long hike last weekend, my body was SORE. So I quickly realized it’s become a necessity rather than a want haha - as my coworker told me today, in his experience “from the age of 25… that’s when it all starts to go downhill physically” looool so ominous. So I’m determined to stay fit, limber, and injury-free! I’ll add stretching and running tabs to my weekly table below!
Here’s a shot from the hike! Hope everyone has a great week xxx
| 日 | 日記 | 調べた言葉か文法 | アキラ | 会話 | 走り | ストレッチ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 今日はメンタルヘルスは結構悪くい。でも、過去に間違った時のおかげで、こういう日でもワニカニブログで日記を書くための場所を準備しなきゃことを習った。明日の方が良い感じたら、多分もっと英語で書くかしら、今週について。だがね、今日はしたくなくて、これは大丈夫。 | - | - | - |  |
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| 4 | 昨日書いた通り、私は悲しかったから、嬉しくなるようなことをしてみた。例えば、仕事から帰った後で短い走りをして、スーパーで野菜と美味しいお菓子を買って、食べて、寝る準備した。そして、驚かした。ベッドに入ったら、私中、快い感じを広まった。蒸気のみたいに、悲しい感じをちょっと解けた。多分、昨日の悲しさの元はだけすごく疲れかもしれない？まあ、確認できなくて、今日は新しい日だから、構わないようにする。 | 広まる (to spread), 解ける (to melt away) both words I knew but couldn’t think of! Happy to see so many early WK words coming into play with meanings I didn’t learn originally. E.g. I learnt 解ける as “to be solved”, so didn’t think of it as “to be lifted/to melt away (an emotion). Cool stuff.  |
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| 5 | もう一度今日も突然に午後の間に悲しくなった。まだ理由を知ってない。たけど、いま家に帰って、晩御飯の早く食べて、ベッドに入るつもりだ. また悲しい日記を書いて申し訳ない皆🙇♀️ | 申し訳, feeling bad/sorry/guilty (I’ve only heard this spoken! Cool to finally write it) | - | - | - | |
| 6 | 昨夜パートナーと私の悲しさについて話して、彼が私はヴィタミン欠乏があるという理論を考えた。それで彼は「ヴィタミンを補ったらいいでしょう」と毎日ヴィタミン言った。それで会話した後で、カプセルを受けるようとした。ヴィタミンが不健康的なことを生じないから、しても問題ない。 | 欠乏, deficiency (remembered 乏 but not the reading for けつ \ 生じる, to cause (bad I didn’t remember bc this is in my reviews rn welp) | - | |
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| 7 | 同僚はナイキ走りアプリを見て、私たちの今月走ったマイル量を見て、冗談として私って怠惰と言いやがった！まだ3マイルしか走らなかったから。先週末の登山旅のせいで依然疲れたけど、この冗談が私に走りたくならせる。でも、私の量と比べて、同僚の走ったマイル量はハーフマラソン以上だ。彼を追い越したかったら、今日ハーフマラソンを走らなければいけない。無理そう！ | たいだ、怠惰 、lazy (I finally looked up the word instead of using katakana), plus やがる to dare to do (saw it lots in Akira today) | |
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| 8 + 9 | 昨日日記を書き忘れちゃったから、週末の両日のために一つ日記しか書かないつもりだ。昨日は土曜日でも仕事に行けなければならなかったから、きっと日記を忘れた訳だ。ニヶ月に姉さんの誕生日で、プレゼントの一つのためにコミックを作りたい。今日は作り始めて、午前はコンテを計画した。今は午後で、絵を描き始めるかな。 | ストリボード = コンテ (from a French word apparently) | - | - | - | |
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Contraception caused some major sads during my teen years, and I want to go back in time and slap not only myself but also the doctor that immediately prescribed bc pills to a 13 year old who’d had her period for hardly over a year. So I’m super proud of you too! Both for continuing to study despite those dark feelings, and for working on WK again 
Was this of your own volition or were you threatened?[1]
Wh-
What?
Are we… old?
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Thanks for the empathy hotdog <3 <3 13 is a crazy young age for that 
I did see this video a couple days before…. Make of that what you will loool
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And with that, Volume 1/6 of Akira is COMPLETE!
Around a year ago, I started this project of writing out and translating every sentence in Akira. It’s been awesome for my reading, my vocabulary, and my writing ! I really recommend this style of intensive reading if you want to squeeze in handwriting practice in a non-intimidating way (since it’s less about recall and more just copying) while also getting the added bonus of practicing writing kanji in context sentences rather than in isolation.
A video of my notes since I started 
:
I didn’t stick to the ‘20 sentences every day’ goal obviously haha how cute
I already have the next volume downloaded so I’m excited to start that next week :> It makes sense to continue right on into the next one now while the habit is strong and while I’m most familiar with Otomo’s language/writing style.
While I love this type of reading practice, I intend to try for the N3 this December in America and I don’t think this type alone is enough. The JLPT requires you to practice reading dense text (quantity) as quickly as you can (speed) whereas this method is all about taking each sentence one by one slowly. So I’m probably going to have to incorporate some extra quantity/speed-focused reading practice on top on this in the autumn! (If anyone has any recs, let me know!)
But for now, hurray for finishing the first volume! I love u Otomo hehe
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Yayyyyy!!! 
Hmmm, I was about to say ‘children’s novels’ but then I reread you saying ‘dense text.’ It might work for speed, though. Are test readings usually nonfiction? Maybe articles and things, but ugh, boring. JLPT takers should probably weigh in instead of me though haha 
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先週と同じで、今日は月曜日でも、毎週の全面的なワニカニポストを書くの興味がない。それで、今日の日記をしか書かなくて、明日は残ってる英語のアップデイトを書くつもりだ！今日したことって、今朝はコミックの絵を描き続けて、午後は4マイル走った。じゃ、明日ね！（全面的, ゼンメンテキ, complete/full)
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I think this is a good reasonable goal compared to the 75 hard! I have been trying to be consistent with exercise as well but haven’t quite got the discipline yet. Stretching every day should really be my baseline…
Beautiful notes on Akira by the way!! Looks like a lot of work! I’m super inspired! I want to say I just don’t have time, but I know it’s just a matter of making time. 
This is me literally every week up until today! 
Also I’m so happy I could read that without any translation!!
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Last week was good: I finished Akira volume 1 and leveled up to level 40 in wanikani: the last of the Hell levels! I also started drawing the comic I’m making for a birthday present which will likely be the thing I spend the most of my free time doing over the next month or two since it’s such a time commitment. That time frame also happens to be the time I have left living in Japan (6-7 weeks) :< I kinda can’t believe it’ll be ending so soon. In that time, I have 2 trips (one of which is the Fuji hike!!). So, between traveling, making the comic, and keeping up with my Japanese study routine (毎日ことは日記を書くし、ワニカニ復習するし、毎週はアキラを読むし、会話練習する), I’m just going to enjoy my last few weeks in Japan and be easygoing about the whole thing.
Something I’m really trying to implement in my life as an anxious depressive girlie is based on something my friend said to me the other day: “you shouldn’t mourn ahead of time. If you know something sad is going to happen in the future, why let yourself feel sad now? Save those feelings for the time, not now. Or else you’ll just feel it twice rather than once”. In other words, the Seneca quote: ”a man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.” I thought this was a very interesting way of thinking! So, although I’m sure I’ll feel sad moving from Japan, not getting to see all the friends I’ve made here, leaving the life I’ve carved out for myself, I’m not going to wallow in those feelings now but save them for the appropriate time. HERE’S TO GAINING MENTAL HEALTH XP.
On a totally different note, talking about mundane aesthetic stuff on this blog…… I added ‘running’ and ‘stretching’ to my table last week and with all the other things it became way too cluttered (to the point where if I read my diary entries on my phone, the sentences were ultra thin and weird to read hahah) So, now I’ve divided them into 2 spaces: 1) my Japanese diary entries and the words/grammar I look up and 2) a series of check boxes for the habits I’m tracking (Speaking and Reading for Japanese, and Running and Stretching for life!).
replies to @alygator
- it took me waaaay too long to get back into stretching so I totally empathize. If it helps, I try the method “habit stacking” where essentially I force myself to stretch in my bed as soon as I lay down for the night so that I condition myself to associate the act of getting into bed with doing the simple stretches. I’d also recommend keeping the number of stretches low so it’s hard to say no to haha
- thank you so much for the Akira notes compliment <3 usually I think they’re ugly but I was actually proud of my handwriting the last 2 weeks!
- yaaaay I’m happy you could understand the Japanese :> !! My main goal in language learning is just to be understood haha so that makes me happy
Have a good week everyone!
Japanese Diary
| 日 | 日記 | 調べた言葉か文法 |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | 今日は普通な日だったのに、仕事から帰った時三時間昼寝した。後で寝られるかな。 | - |
| 12 | 最近私が行動を繰り返し始めたな。。。帰ってベッドに入っている。今は夏だからかな。もっと暑い季節の間に、体が疲れくなりやすくてくるね。 | - |
| 13 | 今日はパートナーと連絡してみようとしても彼のスマホは圏外になってできなかった。「遠距離恋愛」ということはめちゃ大変と思う。＞ー＜ | エンキョリレンアイ、遠距離恋愛, LDR |
| 14 | 今日は本当に休まない日だった！四つクラスを教えて、生徒と英検試験のために練習して、粗大ゴミの集を応募するように役場の職員が連絡されて会話した。今仕事日は終わりが来てけど、仕事後で日本語練習するように友達と会うつもりだ。本当に疲れた！ | was trying to remember the word for collection but could only remember 集 and turns out that kanji alone is okay?? I wonder how natural it is to use it on its own tho? |
| 15 | 今日はお姉さんの誕生日プレゼントのために絵を描き続けた。予想したより、これを絵を描くことのほうが楽しい。過去にプロジェクトのために絵を描かなきゃことはちょっと嫌だったけど、これまで楽しいい。明日も喫茶店で絵を描くつもりだけでなく、アキラを読もうとする。 | 予想 expect, I can’t believe I forgot this lol |
| 16 | 今日は友達と砂浜に行った。靴下と服の中でたくさん砂があることになった。後で、池にすこくたくさん亀を見た、多分30匹以上がいた。素晴らしい日だった！ | 池、いけ, pond (could only remember the readings for 泉 and 港 not 池! |
Habit Tracking Corner 
Speaking Practice (1回)……….
Akira Intensive Reading (1回)……….
Running (2回)……….
Stretching (毎日) …………
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Congrats! That’s excellent
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これを書きながら、日本に今は朝だから、おはよう皆さん、久しぶり！
先週はワニカニブログに何もアップしなかったから、償うように今週のポストを全く日本語で書く！
アップしないことは私らしくないね。先週しないのなんでかしら？きっと、お姉さんの誕生日のために最近コミックを作っていて、30枚絵を描かなければいけなくて、普通より忙しくなった。頭が考えて持てることの限度がある、やる事とか、趣味とか、考える問題ということだ。それで、近頃コミックがもっと頭の力を使っているから、日本語勉強ことより集中しない。去年マラソンを準備した時、同じこと起こった。
それに、この週末友達と会うように恐竜を有名な福井県に旅行した。下に博物館で撮った写真を見て！（本当に楽しかった！日曜日にワニカニ復習のヴェイケイションモードを点けた。）
故に、先週はアップするのが休んだ。だが、注意しなかったら、ちょっと休むと、欲しくなくて大きい休みになってしまえる。それで、まだコミックを作り終わっていなくても、今日から、また日本語日記を書くとか、アキラを読むとか、日本語勉強し続け始めなきゃ！
Japanese Diary
| 日 | 日記 | 調べた言葉か文法 |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 今日は授業が二つ教えて、生徒が自分のオシについてプレゼンした。日本学校で（英語授業以外）成績のために生徒が全然プレゼンしないから、生徒はまだ経験とかプレゼンの技能がなしと思う。それで、生徒にとって今日は便利な経験だったといい。 | - |
| 26 | 先週らしく昨日また日記を書かなかった。昨夜隣人と回転寿司を食べに行って、一緒にゲームをやった。すぐに引っ越すから、日本に住んでいる友達となるべく出掛けたい。それで、翌日だけど、昨日の日記を今書く。 | - |
| 27 | 今日は職場にいても、またコミックの絵を描いた。描かなきゃ絵は五つだけ残っている。だが私の描き方のスタイルはいつも変わっているからちょっと大変。描いたばかりの絵みたいな絵を描けて欲しいけど、できない。 | 職場、しょくば、workplace, 残る、のこる, remaining (two easy words I should have remembered!) |
| 28 | 普通に仕事の週の中で金曜日は一番忙しい。四つ授業があって昼休みの時生徒のとって面接練習があった。それで、さすが今日は忙しかった！今晩友達と映画を見る。私たちが一緒に部屋にいなくて、自分の家に別にいって、同じのタイムで映画を見るつもりだ。きっと楽しい。 | - |
| 29 | - | - |
| 30 | - | - |
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おはよう！久しぶりですね 
わああああ、かっこいい！博物館はとても楽しい。
Looks like you’re going to have a lot on your plate coming up. 頑張ってください、レインドロップスさん 
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すごい！ ほんの少しだけ、見せてくれる？
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Hey all! As @hotdogsuplex kindly said, there’s a LOT going on in the next month!!! Most importantly:
I’m moving countries at the end of the month and leaving Japan after 2.5 years here !!! This involves:
a buuuunch of errands (government buildings to visit, forms to fill out, speeches to make, packing to do), as well as
the emotional stuff like spending lots of time with my friends here and saying goodbye
But I’m also:
climbing Fuji very soon !!! And
still making the comic for my sister’s birthday maybe I’ll post some of the sketches here after I’ve given it to her @mitrac :> . Though admittedly I’m in the final stretch now and nearly finished with it!!!
I’m still trying to do a little bit of Japanese here and there because - as I’ve spoken about at length on this blog lol - if I don’t exercise my Japanese brain regularly, I forget everything super quickly. So yesterday and today, for example, I got my WK reviews down from 400 to 0 which felt good! But given the fact my 日記 posting has been inconsistent the last 2 weeks, I think I’m going to give myself this month off! A little bit of a summer vacation haha! I looooove writing the Japanese diary every day so I can say with 100% certainty I’m going to pick it back up August 1st (the day I move). The same goes for reading Akira and writing up the translations. But for the rest of July, I think my Japanese studies will just consist of wanikani reviews and the occasional reading/speaking practice in my daily life. So there’ll probably be less posting on here (tho maybe I’ll update weekly with anything interesting?) To all my study buddies on here who I love interacting with and learning alongside with, don’t forget about me haha I’ll still be lurking in the forums no doubt but as for my extensive studies, I’ll see u in August!
Miscellaneous Updates Posted Whenever
July 3rd
In a surprising turn of events, I hit 0:0! Hell yeah!
July 11th
I’ve started reading another book in Japanese and I’m really enjoying it :> Can anyone recognize which book it is? The character’s name gives it away haha I’m also experimenting with writing the lines out digitally instead of in my notebook like I did with Akira; here’s some screenshots:
These screenshots are from two different apps and I’m trying to decide which I prefer (the first lets you import images and change the background color, but the second is an endless scroll so I don’t have to erase my sentences when I run out of room!)
ALSO of note today: I finally made a Langcorrect account after seeing @soggyboy rave about it ~ maybe I’ll start using it to check my 日本語日記 when I start up again next month 
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Good luck with the move and everything!
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Enjoy your little break! We could never forget about you
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SO SWEET
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Yesssssss join me!! (And if you see my mangled Japanese entries on there, no you didn’t 
)
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