It’s the two-year anniversary of the very first Wanikani community readathon! 
Our little readathon can now use at least two words together and eat with a spoon. 
We’ll celebrate the longest day of the year (or shortest 
) with the most wonderful and stupendous activity of all… reading lots of Japanese!! Novels, manga, visual novels, news articles, blogs, video games- anything goes, as long as it’s in Japanese!
How it works: On the weekend of Sunday the 21st, read as much in Japanese as you can in a 24-hour period! While reading, keep track of your progress in a way that makes sense for your materials: pages or characters, along with the time spent reading them – when you’re finished, report your final numbers in the community “results” reply below and we’ll tally our collective amount together to see what we were able to accomplish.
There is no expectation for the amount you read or the difficulty of the material, and anyone is welcome to join regardless of Japanese level!
Participation:
Set your goals, make a post if you’d like to
Read during your 24 hours
Add your results to the community tally
Set your goals: Are there any books you’d like to start/complete? How many pages do you think you’ll read before time is up? You can challenge yourself to go above and beyond, or simply try to squeeze in a few pages to boost the community numbers. There is a list of participants and links below, add yours if you make a post, too!
Choose your Readathon time: Will you be reading day-of? Need to defer to the day before or after? Throughout your 24-hour period, post updates with your progress. Let us know when you finish something, reach a milestone, or simply can’t read another word without your brain melting. (Snack photos always welcome! 
)
Add your results: When your 24 hours come to a close, show off your final numbers! Compare them to your goals: did you exceed your expectations, or were you too ambitious with your plans? Did you finish anything that was mind-blowingly good? Did you catch up to a book club you were behind in?
Add your final numbers to the “Results” post in the next reply below. It will be opened to the community at the start of the event – don’t forget to add your time and pages before it closes again!
FAQ
Do I need to read for 24 full hours?
No, this challenge takes place over a 24-hour period, but you are only expected to read for the span of time that you’re able during that period. Some of us may make it a personal challenge to read for as long within those 24 hours as is humanly possible, but even 1 hour of reading is an admirable feat!
Can I combine my time from the day before and after, too?
No, the addition of multiple days allows flexibility for those who want to participate but would otherwise be inconvenienced by a strict date. Please do not add reading stats that did not occur during your 24-hour reading period.
Do the books need to be in Japanese?
Yes, this challenge is meant to encourage us to read more Japanese. If you read other language books, please do not count them in the overall tally.
Am I required to post updates?
No, updates are simply a fun way for us to create a community event, but they are not necessary for participation.
Goals:
 |
All-Time Leaderboard | Avg. Time | Avg. Pages | Avg. Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 Winter '24 |
6:14:00 | 211 | 11.5k |
 |
Winter '25 |
5:47:00 | 213 | 15.7k |
 |
 Spring '26 |
5:47:00 | 244 | 10.6k |
| ?? |  Summer '26 |
After each Readathon event, we like to add the results together in different ways to see how our reading has grown! The primary leaderboard is the average of everyone’s efforts: average time, pages, and characters. Using averages benefits readathons that have fewer participants and therefore lower raw numbers, as well as celebrates our community’s efforts as one group accomplishment. We are reading together, after all! The previous average then becomes one of many goals to beat in our next event 
While the event is taking place, we also try to beat the raw numbers from previous readathons. For example, if we finished 1000 pages together in the last event, can we get 1001 next time? If we totaled 10 hours before, can we make it to 10 hours and 1 minute? Of course, it’s important to remember that the numbers are just an added bonus, and the real fun is had by spending time with the community! 
But, that being said… can we beat these numbers? 
New Goals:
- Previous Year ( Summer '25): 252 hours, 11.6k pages, 151.6k characters
- Previous Event ( Spring '26): 301 hours, 12.6k pages, 552.5k characters
All Results
Chronological raw numbers and thread links:
| Event | Finishers | Time | Pages | Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Summer '24 |
16 | 51:50:00 | 3322 | 56.6k |
 Autumn '24 |
33 | 170:04:00 | 6487 | 421.3k |
| Winter '24 |
22 | 137:16:00 | 4632 | 252.3k |
| Spring '25 |
37 | 191:26:00 | 8679 | 162.8k |
| Summer '25 |
47 | 251:50:00 | 11607 | 151.6k |
| Autumn '25 |
40 | 213:11:00 | 7396 | 555.4k |
| Winter '25 |
52 | 301:25:00 | 11076 | 817.7k |
| Spring '26 |
52 | 300:52:00 | 12672 | 552.5k |
Leaderboard based on per-reader averages from all events:
|
Event | Avg. Time | Avg. Pages | Avg. Charas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Winter '24 |
6:14:00 | 211 | 11.5k |
|
Winter '25 |
5:47:00 | 213 | 15.7k |
|
Spring '26 |
5:47:00 | 244 | 10.6k |
| Summer '25 |
5:21:00 | 247 | 3.2k | |
| Autumn '25 |
5:19:00 | 185 | 13.9k | |
| Spring '25 |
5:10:00 | 235 | 4.4k | |
| Fall '24 |
5:09:00 | 197 | 12.8k | |
| Summer '24 |
3:14:00 | 208 | 3.5k |
Can we do it? 
Let’s read!
- I will participate!
- I will try to participate
- I’ll wait for the Autumn Equinox
- I was raised by wolves and don’t know how to read
New Addition
If you have participated in previous readathon events and would like to see how your results compare over time, check out this script by @GolyBidoof 
Results (Not open yet!) 
You must add your results to this post by the deadline in order for your numbers to count towards the overall total. 
Note that each source should only be counted one time in pages or characters, not both! 
Goals 
I’ve hidden the real taiyousea somewhere, hope you guys can find her again…
)
Good luck with moving, 
See you in the autumn one! 
I have 3day weekend that Sat/Sun/Mon, so it’s perfect for my schedule this time 
I have to make this one special since my first readathon was last summer! Can I break five hours this time???