I promoted Japanese Reading practice through Neko Atsume in this thread Small, easy language immersion with Neko Atsume , and have been logging and translating the daily passwords in the comments, but since that has been getting a bit chaotic, I decided to make a separate thread about it for more organization. Below, you can find the daily passwords, sorted by month.
Things I just couldn't figure out or wasn't sure about.
しぐれ
魚子
祇園囃子
びわ湯
無垢橋
If you think you know what these words mean, please go ahead!
June
| Day | Word | Translation | Further Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 麦星 | The star Arcturus in the Boötes constellation | A star visible during barley harvest time in autumn (麦秋(むぎあき)）(x) |
| 24 | ソーサー | Saucer | |
| 25 | クルー | Crew | |
| 26 | テレイン | Terein | Honestly, the weirdest word yet. “A fungal metabolite of Aspergillus species. Terrein forms pale yellow crystal needles. Terrein has a strong cytotoxic activity against cells with colorectal carcinoma.” This translation might possibly be wrong XD |
| 27 | 雄弁 | Eloquence | Literally translated as “superior/excellent speech” |
| 28 | 完全無欠 | Flawless, Absolute perfection  |
Everything perfect, lacking nothing |
| 29 | しぐれ | Rain shower in late autumn (fall) or early winter (時雨) | This one is a bit of a mystery to me, because I’ve not found an interpretation that is normally written like this in hiragana. There is also a dish that is referred to as this name, which is a shortened version of 時雨煮, which is a seafood dish prepared with mirin, soy sauce and ginger, so maybe this is the casual way of referring to that dish? |
| 30 | 水無月 | Sixth month of the lunar calendar (x) | The 無 is simply ateji, and does not actually mean nothing here. It literally translates as “Month of water”, which refers to the time of the year where the rice fields are flooded. |
July
| Day | Word | Translation | Further Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 七夜月 | Seventh month of the lunar calendar (x) | |
| 2 | コシ | Lower back, lumbar region | Just the Kanji 腰 |
| 3 | なないろ | The seven prismatic colours  |
七色, can also be used as an abbreviation for a seven spice mix 七色唐辛子, containing coarsely ground red chili pepper (the main ingredient), ground sanshō (“Japanese pepper”), roasted orange peel (chenpi), black sesame seed, white sesame seed, hemp seed, ground ginger, nori or aonori (seaweed), poppy seed, and yuzu peel. Interestingly, that’s 10 ingredients  |
| 4 | 梨尻柿頭 | A saying: the bottom of the pear is the top of the persimmon (pear butt persimmon head) | The sweetest part of a pear is the bottom part, just like the sweetness of the top of a persimmon or kaki fruit. (Apparently  ) (x) |
| 5 | 魚子 | Fish child? So like a guppy? When I googled it I mostly saw pictures of roe | This can also be the Japanese name ぎょし, so maybe it’s just that |
| 6 | 鍵 | Key  |
|
| 7 | 小暑 | “Minor heat” solar term | Solar terms are a 24-part year segment set that is part of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The “minor heat” solar term is the 11th segment of this set. Starts around the 7th and goes on until the 22nd-23rd of July |
| 8 | 夕凪 | Evening calm  |
|
| 9 | かがち | Ground cherry of Chinese lantern plant | Those orange tomato looking things with the big leaf husk around it |
| 10 | 四万六千日 | Literally 46000 days, but in general refers to a festival | This festival occurs on July 10th, and is said to contain the merit of 46000 days |
| 11 | 花珠 | A type of pearl, specifically produced in Japan | They are aqua-cultured, but still relatively rare, and of high quality |
| 12 | マジパン | Marzipan | |
| 13 | かちわり | Crushed ice | 搗ち割り, literally pounded and divided |
| 14 | カブ | Turnip | While this can also mean “cub”, given Neko Atsume’s choice of words, it’s more likely to refer to a turnip |
| 15 | ライラック | Lilac | The plant, not the colour, though you could talk about the colour by saying ライラック色 |
| 16 | 祇園囃子 | Literally the orchestra of the city of Gion | Also the title of a movie about the geisha milieu of post-war Gion, Kyoto |
| 17 | 絢爛豪華 | Luxurious and gorgeous | Literally “brilliant fabric design”-“inflamed”-“overpowering”-“splendor”. So like, brilliantly designed, with inflamingly overpowering splendor |
| 18 | 花氷 | Flowers surrounded by ice(?) | Apparently a type of art where flowers are encased in blocks or spheres of ice |
| 19 | 鈴虫 | Bell cricket, or pine cricket | The wings of this funky little guy seems to come straight out of a Steam Punk movie |
| 20 | 静かの海 | Sea of Tranquility | This isn’t just some real good meditation spot, this is a specific crater on the moon. This is the crater that the first people on the moon landed in. |
| 21 | 定期 | Fixed period | |
| 22 | 足駄 | High clogs | 下駄 were called 足駄 in the olden days, which is where the 駄 in 下駄 comes from. 足駄 however refers to a larger amount of types. |
| 23 | 大暑 | Blistering heat | This is also a name for the “major heat” division of the 24 solar terms each year, specifically starting on the 23rd of July |
| 24 | セルフ | self-service | |
| 25 | びわ湯 | Biwa is a type of lute (琵琶), and yu is hot water, or possibly a hot spring. So… | Either this is like a famous hot spring, or you can maybe cook some water in a lute? I have no clue about this one. |
| 26 | 怪談 | Ghost story | |
| 27 | 縞々 | Striped | Literally stripe-stripe |
| 28 | 葉物 | Foliage | Or green vegetables, though that is probably and abbreviation from 葉物野菜 |
| 29 | チャツネ | Chutney | |
| 30 | 仁 | Benevolence | Especially as a virtue of Confucianism |
| 31 | 功徳日 | A set of days, on which (according to Buddhism) a visit to a shrine gives you more merit than on normal weekdays | One of these days is 四万六千日, as mentioned on July 10th |
August
| Day | Word | Translation | Further Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 紅染月 | Eighth lunar month | Literally “Crimson dye month” |
| 2 | やつ時 | 2 o’clock according to an old time system | Genuinely most unintuitive time system known to man |
| 3 | ハニカム | Honeycomb | |
| 4 | 無垢橋 | Japanese-style chopsticks | A style of chopstick that is that are used for Shinto rituals and in Japanese cuisine. They are relatively simple wooden chopsticks. 無垢 is a buddhist term for innocence. |
| 5 | ホップ | Hops | Like the plant. That you use to brew beer. Could also be referring to simply hopping on one foot, but this game is about cats and I don’t see them hopping around any time soon. |
| 6 | 盛夏 | Midsummer | |
| 7 | 立秋 | First day of autumn | Usually falls around August 8th |
| 8 | まるはち | Cyathea Mertensiana (type of tree fern) | 丸八 |
| 9 | |||
| 10 |
This is mostly done as an exercise for myself, but feel free to read along or suggest corrections etc.