Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 06 
Six stroke kanji: 両
Both, old Japanese coin, counter for carriages, two
Kun: てる; ふたつ
On: リョウ
Correct spacing is hard
This image of origami in action is amazing 
@Midnightblue, can’t remember if I said thanks for telling me about that pen, or if I just thought I had, so belated thank you!
Today’s reading was めくらぶどうと虹 which I read with this 朗読.
It was ok. A pretty normal children’s story. I understood the meaning, I didn’t look up very many words, and I only needed to read it once. It’s much easier than yesterday’s reading, but also less fun to make sense of because I didn’t need to try.
Tomorrow is an 江戸川乱歩 story and I’m excited for it 
Advent day 6
Read: NHK news article
Summary: There was the annual akita dog breed event on the 4th in Kousashi. There were 170 people (?) that attended. Some foreigners came to see the show and saw lots of akitas.
Thoughts: This was a hard one… I couldn’t understand the third paragraph basically at all, and I had to look up some key words frequently. I think I’ll do some manga reading tomorrow for fun.
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:7
Kun: たまご
On: ラン
Words of the day: 卵形 (oval shape; egg shape), 累卵 (dangerous situation; pile of eggs), 作家の卵 (aspiring writer)
I was between several kanji today, but I find 卵 a very pleasing shape, so I went with that. It means egg, and it’s a Jōyō kanji taught in grade 6, JLPT level N2, WK level 32.
Here’s a video of Japanese Calligrapher Takumi writing it (0:09 mark):
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations:
Dec 6
Had a bit of a busy week and I’ve fallen a bit behind so here’s a catch up for the past few days.
Kanji Writing
Somehow this discrepancy is what stood out the most for me when listening to today’s song
The song was an alright start to my morning. I’m generally not a fan of Christmas songs as a genre tho.
Day 6
Ascending Stroke Order Kanji Advent Calendar
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ア カ |
ド レ |
ベ ン |
ン ダ |
ト ー |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
| 1 乙 | 2 了 | 3 之 | 4 幻 | |||
| 5 凸 | 6 印 |
7
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8 
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9 
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10
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11 
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12
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13
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14 
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15 
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16 
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17
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18 
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19
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20
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21
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22
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23
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24
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Wow, there are a lot of nice 6-stroke kanji! It was really hard choosing which one to practice.
Today I chose 印 (kun: しるし, on:イン), meaning “arrow.” I also wrote the word 矢印 (やじるし), which can mean the symbol for arrow (→) or romantic interest, somehow? That one surprised me. I only found that definition on Jisho, but I also only checked the two dictionaries on my computer and kotobank, so maybe I just didn’t look hard enough.
Also, since @Midnightblue asked, I figured I’d give a peek behind the curtain. I’ve been using Samsung Notes to practice kanji for this challenge. I have a Note 8, so I just use the stylus to write. I changed the background to be squares (which was a recent discovery for me). Below are the different settings I use.
Winter Song Calendar - Day 6
I was surprised to see a song by MONKEY MAJIK show up! They’re a bit of a blast-from-the-past for me. The song itself was okay. To be honest, I got distracted while I was listening to it, so I can’t say I was paying the closest attention. 
Maybe I’ll give it another listen tomorrow.
冬の物語 - Day 5 (凍れる星の論争)
冬の物語 - Day 6
I only found the time to read one story, so I’ll have to kick the can for catching up to tomorrow. Day 5’s story brought yet another new genre into the mix: sci-fi! This one features a planet of ice. The people of the planet have learned of the existence of a new planet called 地球 and are holding a meeting to decide how to proceed. The topic of weapons is brought up, and the story mentions one of 地球’s weapons being a 死の箱. I puzzled over this for some time. When puzzling proved fruitless, I continued reading, trying to gain some kind of understanding. Lo and behold, the answer was the punchline of the story: the people of this frost planet mentioned how the 死の箱 made people fall into a death-like sleep, and they go to see the professor who’s been researching it. His bottom half is eating while his top half is fast asleep. They scream, and he wakes up to inform them of the item’s true name: こたつ . Part of me wishes the story leaned in more to the genre, because I kind of wanted to see what this ice planet was like. Still, it was an amusing story that’s on the shorter side (5 pages).
December 7
Kanji writing
Origami
Song
Mystery book reading
You know how sometimes kanji just flow off the pen, with no conscious thinking of your own? Well, this was not one of those kanji. Even after 56 repetitions, I still had to think about what shape each stroke would have to be, and even how many strokes there were. I don’t know what it is about it, but its appearance and its stroke breakdown just don’t connect for me.
Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 7
December 7th
Today’s Kanji:
忍
Kun’yomi: しの.ぶ、 しの.ばせる
On’yomi: ニン
Meaning: endure, bear, put up with; conceal, spy, sneak
Kanji writing
My first try tried being sneaky just like the Kanji’s meaning. Nice try, but I noticed the messy diagonal stroke that was supposed to be curved.
@softlyraining
Thank you for giving me a little peek behind the scenes – I never would have guessed that your writing was digital all along. 
The digital calligraphy pen would also explain the unusual ink colour. Besides, it’s really neat that Samsung Notes has the option of displaying those notebook squares which helps with Kanji writing practice. 
December 7
Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami
@Midnightblue thanks for the kanji writing reference. I had a chance to read the first part about the seven main groups and looks pretty useful, but haven’t gone through all 214 radicals just yet.
@softlyraining well done writing digitally! How do you control your strokes? I wish I could do the same to lessen my paper waste, but it’s so hard for me to make the transition…
@pyororon i love the variety of pens you’re using. can I also ask what kind of pens they are? Or has that already been asked before? Sorry if it has.
Song was just okay for me too, but I was curious what you were referring to @Beyond_Sleepy when you said this?
Are you talking about the profile photo not being consistent? Or being a bunny?
No notes for everything today except some replies to posts cause I got in late. 家事をしなければならない. 
Recently (re)learned that grammar point on Bunpro today and it’s one of my pet peeves… Double negatives are soooo confusing!
Sounds like fun!
I participated in the “Read Everyday Challenge”
I’ve been actively doing these things recently:
-trying to read (to the best of my knowledge/ability) social media posts, then translating them & learning words, vocabulary & phrases/ sentences from them, then adding them to my anki deck to learn.
-I’ve ‘learnt’ a song & listen to it almost daily. I want to be able to sing it (not there yet).
I’d like to participate in this too.
I’ll try these (at least 1 a day):
This will be fun!
Yup. Or more like, this used to be their pfp but they got rid of it without replacing it, but it still represents them in a advent calendar video link. Huh.
Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 07
Seven stroke kanji: 呂
Spine; backbone
Kun: せぼね
On: ロ; リョ
I like this one, it’s a fun kanji to write.
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:8
Kun: なが.い、 おさ
On: チョウ
Words of the day: 長居 ( long visit, overstaying), 八百長 (match fixing; put-up job; fixed game), 気長 (patient; unhurried; leisurely), 霊長類 (primates)
長 means long, senior, superior, and it’s a Jōyō kanji taught in grade 2, JLPT level N5, WK level 6.
Here’s a video of Japanese Calligrapher Takumi teaching us how to write it (2:07 mark):
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations: (that last one again!)
Dec 7
Kanji Writing
Chose 初 today, I struggled a lot with trying to keep the balance on this one.
Thanks and of course! They are, from top to bottom, a sarasa gel pen, a pentel felt tip, a pentel brush pen, an akashiya sai watercolor brush pen, mechanical pencil, glass pen, a fine tip fountain pen, and the last one’s just a paintbrush and gold ink. The glass pen is my favorite for this, the friction with the paper seems to make it easier to control the strokes.
Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 8
December 8th
Today’s Kanji:
承
Kun’yomi: うけたまわ.る、 う.ける
On’yomi: ショウ, ジョウ
Meaning: acquiesce, hear, listen to; be informed; receive
Kanji writing
December 8
Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami
The ending of the video was kind of shocking to me!
Honestly haven’t been understanding any of the songs except for picking up a few words that sound familiar. And then also practicing reading while listening to the song again. So I think I’ll just note down phrases that struck me after reading the translation.
Today’s phrases:
Not so sure if the tenses are correct.
Words of interest not yet mentioned:
New vocab:
The part when she says なかを広げていきます was so nerve wracking for me. I thought I was gonna rip my paper. But then when it finally unfolded to be the center of my bow it was so satisfying.
@pyororon Oh wow! I do not know half of those pens. Will have to explore the stationery to find them! Not happy with the daiso brush tip I’m using. It’s getting worn out and becoming thicker by the day, when I’ve literally just used it for 8 days.
Anyway, your kanji writing of 初 is so beautiful! It can’t be the first time you’ve written it! I wish i could write that expression in japanese but my japanese is so basic, I can only say 初めてですか。
I read 指環 by 江戸川乱歩 yesterday morning but then was too busy in the evening to post about it. I enjoyed it, but not my favorite by him. This took the form of dialogue between two men who had been sitting near each other on a train during an incident with a ring.
This is the 朗読 I listened with.
This sentence absolutely threw me:
いつまでも、
左様然 らばでもあるまいじゃないか。
I’ll probably do my reading for today in the evening.
Hm, I’d venture a slightly different interpretation though
いつまでも、- “forever”
でもあるまい - this is just であるまい with も thrown in for contrast/emphasis, i.e. “shouldn’t”
じゃないか。- “isn’t it”
So to express the meaning in normal English:
This shouldn’t be the last time we’ve bumped into each other, don’t you think?
But maybe that’s wrong, and 然らば actually means “in that case” like you suggested? Even then, I think the meaning is inverted to what you said due to まい? 
Comments and corrections are welcome, as always!
