The fifth song was not available in my country! So I ended up watching this live performance. My goodness… What a voice! I couldn’t catch any words for the first time cause I was just so focused on her singing. I also think it’s more difficult to recognize words cause she prolongs a lot of syllables in the song.
I looked up the song after and found it’s the ending theme song of Sword Art Online Season 2? I’ve seen some posters for it at Book Off and some other shops and was curious, but never watched the anime. And then I read that it started in 2012. Wowwww. That’s crazy. I guess they’re still churning out episodes until now? I probably won’t watch since I already have too much to catch up on!
Kanji writing
Decided to do two 5 stroke kanji today because the origami challenge today was fairly easy and quick and someone else’s choice had caught my eye because it’s in my list of leeches!
No Japanese language notes on origami today except related to our origami teacher. I noticed it in the previous videos but just wanna say, this lady is so good at folding and so fast!! I keep having to rewind so I can follow. Even for this simple envelope!
Hoping tomorrow’s toy is not as hard as the first!
Replies
@deliana88 thanks for the references for Love Live. Not sure if I have time to play any time soon, but I do like rhythm games and will take note of it!! Thanks for the songs so far, by the way. I’m really enjoying discovering japanese songs.
@omk3@Beyond_Sleepy@Midnightblue you all have so much courage to write freely without the practice lines! Well done! I think I’ll do the same for tomorrow’s kanji. But I realized it will just be getting harder from here on with the number of strokes also getting higher…
I thought it was going to be by ordered by difficulty level as well. So I was really shocked by Day 2! But thank you for these links! I’m really warming up to ばあばーさん’s voice. I wish we could somehow send her photos of our creations by the end of this as a thanks.
In my opinion season 1 at least is worth watching on its own merit if you like the genre/premise, although the ending is quite unsatisfying.
Ty
I think getting the right visual balance will get easier the more strokes we’ll need to fit in. What seems hardest to me is getting the negative space of the kanji to look right, so the less of it there is the happier I’ll be (I say now, but I might change my mind. This is my first time actually practicing kanji). My attempts at first kanji look the worst ^^;
Could not get this one right at all, still doesn’t look right, all my attempts were pretty messy, they get pretty wild on the no-grid attempts. Also the two jabs at the end, I kept forgetting which way they’re supposed to face, it felt more natural to go the non-correct way
Summary: Sony has made a device that can make an avatar move according to how you move. The metaverse is trying it out(?) and videos have been made with these avatars.
Thoughts: I looked up a couple kanji to help me understand the article better, but I think I understood it somewhat. It’s an interesting prospect, but I somewhat doubt that this will go anywhere anytime soon. Again, I’m happy with how I managed to read through this!
Today’s reading was 余と万年筆 by 夏目漱石 and I read it along with this 朗読.
My first time reading 漱石! I have to admit, I was underwhelmed? But it’s also an essay about his thoughts on pens, so it’s maybe not the best introduction. I didn’t actively dislike his writing style (like has been the case for 芥川) so there’s that. Difficult old writing for sure - 明治４５, or 1912. Anything pre-昭和 is so hard
When I first read it this morning I came away from it completely baffled, feeling like I only understood a little bit of what he’d written, but just now I re-read and focused more on listening to the read through and it made a lot more sense. Still not 100%, but like 70-80%?
Tomorrow is another 宮沢賢治 children’s story. And then again 2 days later…
It wasn’t intentional at all, I don’t have any particular feelings about him as an author.
For Day 3, I practiced writing 之. I chose it because of how odd it looks. It was actually kind of challenging. Maybe this is just teaching me that I’m not much of a calligrapher. Still, it’s fun trying to get as close to the example as I can. This day’s word was a hefty yojijukugo, 之字運動, which means “zig-zag motion.”
Like @Midnightblue, I chose 幻 for Day 4. With a meaning like “phantasm,” I just couldn’t resist. The word that I practiced at the end is 幻聴, meaning “an auditory hallucination.” I really like that you can further specify the type of hallucination by adding on 聴 to 幻.
Once I saw that 凸 was a 5-stroke kanji, I knew which one I was choosing for today. Naturally, my practice word HAD to be 凸凹. This is a kanji where it’s so easy to see whether you messed up on the evenness of the top half. I also decided to include the stroke orders for both kanji because I think they’re so interesting and went against my initial intuition.
Winter Song Calendar - Day 3
Winter Song Calendar - Day 4
Winter Song Calendar - Day 5
My bias comes out yet again: I love LiSA, and even though the video has her in a desert (and hence not having much of a Christmas-vibe), that was of course my favorite one. I don’t really have a strong opinion about the snow halation video: I’ve known about the song and Love Live for a while, and while I guess making the outfits white would’ve been more in-theme, I don’t really care either way.
Short Story Calendar
冬の物語 - Day 3 (猫の手)
冬の物語 - Day 4 (てぶくろ かたっぽ)
冬の物語 - Day 5 (凍れる星の論争)
Day 3’s story was the perfect short story for this collection: took place in winter and used the season in its storytelling, was cute and cozy, and featured a cat. I honestly couldn’t have asked for more. Was it predictable? Yes, very much so. Do I care? Not really. That being said, the story poses an interesting idea: that, because Santa is old, he doesn’t really understand/know about the newfangled toys kids these days are asking for. I’m not sure I agree with this idea, though I can’t say it isn’t a unique perspective. Feel free to share your own thoughts about this.
Day 4’s story is on the other end of the spectrum: it features a college student climbing up a mountain to meet the other members of his children’s literature research club. The plan is for them to have a 合宿 at a cottage on the mountain. On the way, he runs into a well-dressed man who tells him about a shortcut up the mountain. As they chat and climb together, the conditions get worse (it’s winter time, and there’s a lot of snow). The man tries asking the narrator about this one tale he’s heard of about a missing glove. This is where things take quite the turn. As it turns out, the man is the one who’s missing the glove, and he asks the narrator to help him look for it. The narrator thinks he’s found it, only to discover there’s something inside: a skeleton hand! The man reveals he’s missing a hand, and his clothes are now all bloody. The narrator passes out and awakens with the rest of his group. He later learns there was an accident a long time ago where a man died and his body was severely damaged. Only his left hand, still in its mitten, couldn’t be found. Though the vibe of the story was different from the cat one, I really liked the twist this one had. It’s a simple idea, but it was executed pretty decently.
I’ll try to catch up on Day 5’s story tomorrow, along with Day 6’s.
Words of the day: 浮気 (extramarital sex; affair; fooling around), 何気ない (casual; unconcerned; nonchalant). 血の気 (blood (in one’s face, cheeks, etc.), colour, hotheadedness, impulsive temperament)
While there are many great 6-stroke kanji, I could not not do 気. It’s ubiquitous, uniquely Japanese (or at least does not have a direct equivalent in Western languages as far as I know), and can mean more or less anything (well, it means things like spirit, mind, air, atmosphere, mood, but it changes so much depending on what it’s attached to). Of course it’s taught in the first grade and it’s JLPT level N5, and WK level 4. I find its shape very pleasant too.
Japanese Calligrapher Takumi teaches us how to write it here:
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations (for once I find even the last one recognizable):
There’s a bunch of us doing an origami a day for 24 days. That might be a little too many links or cross posts. I’m thinking a post with all 24 pics by each one of us (obviously I can only speak for myself) at the end might be best? (Please remind me if I forget)
That would be fantastic! I hope I can join y’all late. I was thinking that I’d be no longer crunching by this week’s Monday, but it looks like I’m busy all week
Non-japanese singing in Japanese was a first for me to see!
English verses after the Japanese verse
Rapping on two occasions
So much diversity!! From instruments, to kind of singing, to language and race! I just love it! I also wanted to look up the english translation and found the original song, which I also enjoyed. It seems the original song was about a break up? Is this new song answering to that? Is it a happy ending now?
Reading more into the lyrics of the one that was linked, I’m not sure I really understood the story it’s trying to tell. I couldn’t make sense of any of the english lyrics, tbh.
Kanji writing
Yayyy! I love today’s pick because I looked through the list beforehand and was thinking to practice this one.
Was honestly intimidated by this one watching the first few seconds of the video. But it was easier than I expected! I think I’ll be sending the toys I make to my nephew!
Replies
@Beyond_Sleepy it will only get better as you practice! I think they look good considering this is your first time trying! I’ve had a lot of practice with also learning Hangeul previously and I learned the kana writing way back like 10 years ago. Kanji is definitely way more difficult! Tried out free style this day’s kanji btw. And will download the pilot episode of Sword Art Online to see if i like it.
@softlyraining loved your choice of 3-stroke and 5-stroke kanji. That five stroke one looks like tetris to me. Haven’t encountered any of those kanji in WK yet, but have seen them in the wild… Wonder which levels they’ll show up on here.
@DIO-Berry happy to post mine on your origami thread at the end as suggested. I may also need a reminder though. Hoping to see your creations on here soon!
Your pics are your own to do with as you please. When I suggested a post with all 24 origami at the end in the origami thread, I meant that each person would post their own pics if they so wished. I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t intending to repost anyone else’s pics.
Tried out three black-coloured pens when I replaced the one I’ve used so far. I think I’ll stick to the one used in the second to last row.
I also noticed that I recognised a good amount of all Kanji containing <7 strokes when I searched for the one I would choose for my practice.
It’s a nice reminder that the work I’ve put in Wanikani as of yet is not to be underestimated even though I’m only at 1/4 of all levels. Granted, I’m aware that the WK Kanji teaching order is based on complexity of the Kanji (strokes) themselves, meaning that soon enough I won’t recognise as much. But it was still a kind of motivating observation to see how much I’ve learned in the last 3-4 months.
Replies
@alygator
Haha, I’m not sure I’d describe my practice as courageous because with the exception of my calligraphy pen writing mini-sheet, I don’t really write freely as my notebook (supposedly a passport notebook? which I’m err…misusing) still has those dotted lines that serve as reference points.
I am somewhat familiar with Kanji composition, though, so I can write freely with varying degrees of success. When I was trying to make more sense of Kanji a few years ago, I used the following website (214 traditional Kanji radicals) to familiarise myself with Kanji radicals and composition.
The main group overview (へん hen), (つくり tsukuri) etc. in regards to positioning the Kanji radicals/phonetic components helped a lot. It gave me a good idea on where the components tend to be located and how much space they roughly take up within an ideal square. Maybe it will prove useful to some of you too.
@softlyraining
I really like the look of the pen you use – is it a calligraphy pen with magenta-coloured/pink-coloured ink?
Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 05 
Advent Day 5
Naturally, my practice word HAD to be 凸凹. This is a kanji where it’s so easy to see whether you messed up on the evenness of the top half. I also decided to include the stroke orders for both kanji because I think they’re so interesting and went against my initial intuition.
I honestly couldn’t have asked for more. Was it predictable? Yes, very much so. Do I care? Not really. That being said, the story poses an interesting idea: that, because Santa is old, he doesn’t really understand/know about the newfangled toys kids these days are asking for. I’m not sure I agree with this idea, though I can’t say it isn’t a unique perspective. Feel free to share your own thoughts about this. 
Kanji writing
