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!
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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.
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Dec 22
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:22
籠
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:
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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
Kanji writing practice
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. 
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First row, second one. Saw it instantly even before reading your post XD
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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!
Origami
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!
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Very quick read in the morning today! クリスマスの贈物 by 竹久夢二 with this 朗読. If anyone wants to give an Aozora story a try and they want a Christmas-y mood, this is a good one for that. A very classic type of holiday story and it’s only a few pages. Not too much for old grammar and because it’s aimed at children the kanji is lighter.
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day 22
アルスラーン戦記 漫画 – obvs easier to approach than above cos there’s pictures. Much the same as the anime, the sample covered episode one. lots of furigana different to the kanji readings, especially for titles but also for some names, as renderings of older non-japanese words and, ofc, polite speech here there and everywhere.
why are there only two days left, when did that happen
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December 22
Kanji writing
Origami
Song
Mystery book reading
Origami
What a time-(and paper-)consuming origami this was! 
Serves me right for complaining about yesterday’s being too quick, I guess. Still, the result was definitely worth it. It’s hypnotic, and so good to play with! It tended to come apart though, so I put some glue here and there, even though the video didn’t mention it.
Here it is, in all its various states:
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Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 22 
Twenty-Two stroke kanji: 龕
Alcove for an image (usually Buddha)
Kun: れい
On: カン; ガン
There isn’t many common 22 stroke kanji, so onto the obscure stuff!
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Oh my gosh! What a beautiful creation!! Congratulations! 
I know you said you didn’t check the difficulty level/time required for these, but I was thinking you must have done the ordering for those two (Day 21 and 22) on purpose as a little prank…
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Thank you. 
It really came out well, but it took sooooooooooooo long! Hope yours comes out even better when finished!
I really didn’t plan this, apart from pushing this one towards the end of the calendar because it was immediately obvious it would be very involved. But yes, if you take the average time of day 21 and 22, maybe it evens out a little? 
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Dec 23
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:23
鑑
Kun: かんが.みる、 かがみ
On: カン
Words of the day: 殷鑑 (past example serving as a warning), 筆跡鑑定 (handwriting analysis), 大鑑 (encyclopedia), 映画鑑賞会 (film festival)
What on earth is a "chicken sexer"?
鑑 means things like specimen, model, take warning from, learn from. It’s a Jōyō kanji taught in junior high, JLPT level N1, and It’s not on Wanikani.level 31.
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations:
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It’s a professional job where people look at genitals of tiny chicks and can instantly sort them into male and female. The male chicks get killed of.
They are more accurate and faster then any automation we can currently develop. But If you ask them how they do it they can’t explain their system. The brain is a crazy pattern recognition machine.
If you can stomache the contents it’s a super interesting topic to look into!
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Oh. Makes sense. Telling the sex of a newborn bird can’t be easy. Thanks for the info. The reason it needs to be done is not something I’d like to look into any further, though.
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Chicken talk
Or the females, depending on which kind of factory it is 
I think there are some developments around X-raying the fertilized egg and determining the sex through that, but I have no idea how reliable that is. And, they still throw away half the eggs on either side. Which, together with the conditions of producing said eggs, is … well … 
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day 23
呪術廻戦 – just as fun as the anime was! i was kinda worried the fights wouldn’t flow as well but the energy is absolutely still there and I really do wanna keep reading! Originally picked this cos I thought i’d be flagging by now and wanted smth really familiar (and therefore easier), but turns out i didn’t need it! was more like a reward than an easy option which is funny cos there’s still tomorrow yet so it’s too early for rewards but ah well
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Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 23
December 23rd
Today’s Kanji:
鱒
Kun’yomi: ます
On’yomi: ソン, セン, ザン
Meaning: salmon trout
Kanji writing
Kanji writing practice
My writing just keeps getting worse and my hand started to hurt after the first half – I’m kind of glad that tomorrow’s complex Kanji will be the last one because I’m running out of stamina.
@downtimes
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! 
No idea, how I didn’t notice sooner. In the end, I decided to keep the picture without amending the mistake to have something funny to look at.
What a mesmerising origami! It must have been rather difficult to make, no? Anyways, you did great job! 
Just by looking at it, I can’t make out how it’s constructed – at first, I even thought that it was two origami because of all the different papers and arrangements. I may take a look at the corresponding video to see it in action.
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