We are reading at the pace of one page per day. If a sentence crosses two pages it is read as part of the first page.
Daily reading schedule
Page turns at midnight JST.
Date
Page
Last Line of Page
Mar 27
151
Chapter title page
Mar 28
152
小さい ころから そうじに すいじと、
Mar 29
153
考える くせも つきました。
Mar 30
154
頭に うかんだのは、十年前に
Mar 31
155
ながい れつを 作っていたのでした。
Apr 1
156
長持ちする ラーメンを 作るのです。
Apr 2
157
長持ちさせる かんそうの やり方です。
Apr 3
158
そして、あげた めんに おゆを そそぐと、その
Apr 4
159
『チインラーメン』と 名づけられました。
Apr 5
160
しかし、百福は おどろいただけでは
Apr 6
161
『カップヌードル』でした。
Apr 7
162
３。食器の やくわり。だから、 なべも どんぶりも
Apr 8
163
この記事を 書きました。
Apr 9
164
End of chapter
Resources
These spreadsheets are put together by the bookclub to help other readers. Feel free to contribute but do read the vocab sheet guidance on the first page before adding any words.
When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked
If posting a complete translation of a sentence we generally blur / hide this, as seeing the translation may be a spoiler for those who haven’t read that part yet and wanted to translate for themselves. The easiest way to do this is select the text, click on the cog icon, and select “Blur Spoiler”, or you can type it like this: [spoiler]texthere[/spoiler]
安藤百福
Momofuku Ando
大発明！インスタントラメン
Great invention! Instant ramen
文・額川たくじ
Writing: Takuji Kakugawa (or Nukagawa)
絵・中村頼子
Illustrations: Yoriko (or Noriko) Nakamura (or Okamura or any of other 10 readings!)
I ventured into trying to read the names of chapter authors. Finding kanji was easy. How to read them, I guess without furigana, we never know. I used Jisho “name” mode to look up readings.
インスタントラーメンを発明した安藤百福は、今から百年まで前に、台湾で生まれました。
Momofuku Ando, who invented instant noodles, was born in Taiwan up to [actually more than] 100 years ago.
お父さんもお母さんも、幼い頃に亡くなってしまったので、おじいさんの家で貞てられました。
As both his father and his mother died when he was a very young child, he was raised in the house of his grandparents.
おじいさんは、百福を大変厳しく育てました。
The grandparents raised Momofuku very strictly.
まだ小さい頃から、掃除に炊事と、家の中の仕事を何でも言いつけたのです。
From a young age, he was told to clean, cook, and do any work in the house.
According to おじいさん - Jisho.org, おじいさん can stand for grandparents or for the grandfather alone (written お祖父さん). I opted for both of the grandparents to raise young 百福.
インスタントラーメンを発明した安藤百福は、今から百十年ほど前に、台湾で生まれました。
The inventor of instant ramen, Momofuku Ando, was born as much as 110 years ago in Taiwan.
お父さんもお母さんも、幼い頃に亡くなってしまったので、お祖父さんの家で育てられました。
Because both his father and mother died when he was young, he was raised in his grandfather’s house.
お祖父さんは、百福をたいへん厳しく育てました。
His grandfather raised Momofuku very strictly.
まだ小さいころから、掃除に炊事と、家の中の仕事をなんでも言いつけたのです。
From when he [Momofuku] was still small, he [the grandfather] ordered him to do every job in the house, like cleaning and cooking.
The last sentence was a little tricky, but no unfamiliar grammar at least! I had time to finish tomorrow’s page too
Are you both reading different editions by any chance?
I really think it’s hilarious that they explicitly mention how long ago something happened (I already noticed that in a different series of the same publisher) - but of course that will often lead to updates in the text…
We had it in several of this book’s stories, too. Apparently the authors think that second graders can better imagine a time 110 years ago than an abstract date (1910). Or do Japanese children first learn the Japanese calendar (that would be 明治４３年)?
インスタントラーメンを発明した安藤百福は、いまから百十年ほど前に、台湾で生まれました。
Momofuku Ando, [the man] who invented instant ramen, was born about 110 years ago in Taiwan.
お父さんもお母さんも、おさないころになくなってしまったので、おじいさんの家で育てられました。
Because unfortunately both his father and mother have died when he was very little, he was raised in his grandfather’s household.
おじいさんは、百福を大変厳しく育てました。
His grandfather raised Momofuku very strictly.
まだ小さいころから、掃除に炊事と、家の中の仕事をなんでも言いつけたのです。
Since he was little, he was cleaning and cooking, and doing any work inside the house that he was told.
EDIT after check with deepl: He ordered him to do the cleaning and the cooking and any work in the house since Momofuku was a small child.
I completely misread the last sentence initially, so I posted my wrong original translation. Then I was asking myself, where is actually verb that says that the child was doing all this activities. So after checking with deepl, turns out there is no such verb, since the meaning is different.
Small question: まだ小さいころから、掃除に炊事と、家の中の仕事をなんでも言いつけたのです。
How do you translate this まだ at the beginning?
おかげで百福は、小学校高学年ころには、身の回りのことは、なんでも自分でできるようになりました。
Thanks to that, Momofuku was able to manage his daily life by himself when he was in the upper grades of elementary school.
また、何かをするとき、人にたまらず、自分で考える癖も付きました。
Also, when he did something, he had the habit of thinking by himself instead of asking people.
)