So I was supposed to read 森の紫陽花 but between no 朗読 and the ridiculous amount of furigana (just look at it! it’s so ugly) I opted to change it up and read 嘘 by 太宰治 instead, with this 朗読.
What a fun read! I feel like I always enjoy 太宰. This was a story of two people discussing the stated idea of「男は
Day 19
Hadn’t time to post yesterday, but read this one in the afternoon. Quite a few old folktales seem to center around either not listening to a request and thus losing something precious, or being rewarded for deference.
Day 20
This one was a bit challenging for me to follow, but I still understood it was a bit more melancholic than the ones I have read previously.
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:21
Kun: つる
On: カク
Words of the day: 折り鶴 (paper crane, origami crane), 紅鶴 (flamingo), 鶴の一声 (final word; voice of authority; authoritative pronouncement), 閑雲野鶴 (life in natural setting, free from worldly cares), 風声鶴唳 (getting frightened even by a slight noise; hearing the enemy in every leaf that rustles; being afraid of one’s own shadow)
(they’re several today, but I liked them all!)
Today’s kanji ties in well with our origami challenge. 鶴 means crane, stork. It’s a Jōyō kanji taught in junior high, JLPT level N1 and WK level 49.
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations:
アルスラーン戦記 novel 1 - about as difficult as i thought it was gonna be, but having context really helped and cos i was looking forward to this one i actually had quite a bit of fun if we ignore the fact that i didn’t read the whole sample shhhh. looking forward to reading these like, two years from now when i actually can 
December 21
Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami
Non-language related notes on today’s song because I really liked it! It was very catchy and uplifting! So I got curious about the band and googled Drop Dead Dolls to see who they were and found out they’re a virtual idol group! That’s a first for me to ever encounter! I was pretty surprised, though I know I shouldn’t have been since anime is such a huge thing in Japan. It should only make sense they’d have anime virtual idol groups. I might try this at a karaoke once. Seems like an easy enough song to sing!
On a side note, the first time a googled, some scary dolls came up on the search and freaked me out. Not nice… 
I have a lingering fear of dolls from childhood…
Oh why hello there! Learned this first from Day 4 of the origami advent calendar and we’re now circling back! Yay!
So many words of interest already shared by @omk3! Pretty surprised at the variety of this kanji. Two more to add to the list:
@omk3 I tried to look into it more but couldn’t find any references at all. I’m so curious… I’ll ask my japanese teacher the next time I have class and let you know!
Day 21
Quite a different art style from most of the previous stories. I suppose that alone was what made this fun to read to my daughter. Again, only about 45% understood. My daughter wasn’t too keen on helping this time. Oh well, I’m just glad she still enjoys having me read to her at 10 years old.
December 21
Kanji writing
Origami
Song
Mystery book reading
Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 21
December 21st
Today’s Kanji:
鶴
Kun’yomi: つる
On’yomi: カク
Meaning: crane, stork
飇
Kun’yomi: つむじかぜ
On’yomi: ヒョウ
Meaning: whirlwind, stormy gale
Kanji writing
Picked two Kanji today, the first one being the one proposed by @omk3. I couldn’t find a stroke order diagram for the second Kanji within a few minutes, so I just wrote it in a freestyle manner. Luckily, it turned out okay.
Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 21 
Twenty-One stroke kanji: 魔
Witch; demon; evil spirit
Kun: n/a
On: マ
The little tent covering the whole thing makes it a little easier to place the rest of the radicals but I still kept running out of space.
Wait, now really want to know what song this was, because I don’t think I had a song by them on my calendar… (I think Day 21 was an 嵐 song). Do you remember the title?
Woops! So I may have accidentally listened to a cover then! 
The link in the calendar wasn’t available in my country so I just searched the title. And this was the one that came up!
I am guessing that 歌ってみた means cover?
Oh, wow, that actually sounds pretty close to the original! Well done! I think in this case 歌ってみた ＝ 歌う＋てみる as in, we tried to sing / attempted to sing.
The original group is these guys:
A very well-known boy-band in Japan with LOTS of songs (something like 256 songs total).
Not sure if you have Netflix or if it’s available in your country, but there’s actually a documentary on Netflix about their history as a group and their retirement in 2020:
With so many songs, they can be kind of a mixed bag, but worth checking out.
256 songs wow! It makes more sense now that I found so many covers of the same song because they’re so popular.
Thanks for the recommendation! 
I’ll look them up later and see if the docu is available on my Netflix!
Today I read 雪渡り by 宮沢賢治 along with this 朗読. I didn’t really care for it. Some kids stories are good as adults, this one just didn’t really connect.
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:22
Kun: かご、 こ.める、 こも.る、 こ.む
On: ロウ、 ル
Words of the day: 竹籠 (bamboo basket), 灯籠 (garden lantern, hanging lantern), 蒸籠 (bamboo steamer), 片旅籠 (one-night stay (with just breakfast or dinner)), 籠球 (basketball)
籠 means things like basket, devote oneself, seclude oneself, cage, coop, implied. It’s a Jōyō kanji taught in junior high. It’s not on Wanikani.
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations:
Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 22
December 22nd
Today’s Kanji:
疊
Kun’yomi: たた.む, たたみ, かさ.なる, かさ.ねる
On’yomi: ジョウ, チョウ
Meaning: tatami, counter for tatami mats; fold; shut up; do away with
Kanji writing
Despite the start of today’s writing practice feeling relatively comfortable due to the box-like structure of this Kanji, my patience ran out by the 5th row causing the rest to become sloppy.
On top of that there is one mistake which I didn’t notice until the end: one of these (things) is not like the other. 
First row, second one. Saw it instantly even before reading your post XD
December 22
Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami
Got home late from a dinner and was able to listen and write but the origami is only 10% done 
will get back to it over the weekend when less busy!
2 out of 20 pieces done! My lord this is a crazy one but excited to see the finished product. Sad i don’t have 10 of the same paper so it’s gonna be like patchwork. Will edit this post later once I’m done!
Edit:
Finally did it!! One day after christmas!
