How much time is left for nominations? I have one I was thinking about nominating, but I need to gauge the difficulty of it
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Poll will open March 2nd according to a post from a couple days ago. So you have over a week.
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That’s perfectly enough time to procrastinat , thank you
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Hi there ! I’d like to nominate a short story I’m reading at the moment, but I’m reading it in a bilingual edition who is more expansive than the short stories collection in which the text has been published.
My question being : in my nominating post, do I recommend the collection of short stories or the bilingual edition I’m currently reading ?
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If the text of the actual story is otherwise the same, why not link both? It’s not that uncommon for a story to have several editions, e.g. Shadow House had a fully colored one and a black and white one, and せーラー服と機関銃 (current IBC pick) had an illustrated edition and a plain one.
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I think it depends if the text is the same in both editions. I could be misunderstanding, but it sounds like maybe the short story is abridged? So it would make a fairly big difference to what people actually read.
Yeah, that’s why I said “If the text of the actual story is otherwise the same”. @macalys didn’t mention anything about the story being abridged in the bilingual version, but if it is, I’d definitely prefer the unabridged version. Another possible reason to prefer the collection might be that if the short story turns out to be too short for a BBC, we could read two.
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And that’s probably why I shouldn’t reply to posts at 2am after a late shift - sorry I didn’t read your post properly!
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No it isn’t, there’s just a version where the short story is commented and translated in english.
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In the event anybody was watching after 気になっている人 but didn’t grab it, it’s 50% points back on Bookwalker for the moment
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This also applies to the second volume for anyone who is enjoying the first volume.
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I think it’s probably better to recommend the fully Japanese version, since the goal is to read Japanese here and if the English translation is right there alongside it, it’s very easy to read the English version and tell yourself you’re reading the Japanese version. Though you could link the bilingual version for people that want it, it’s not like there’s a rule that you can’t dual read anyway, but I think a bilingual one is probably not likely to get many votes (even given it’s been some time since a short story collection has done well in the polls here)
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You can’t even get this thread to vote for a short story collection if it has a cute fox on the cover 
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Are you sure about that? The second volume of 気になってる人が男じゃなかった only shows for me as refunding 88 coins at a price of ¥1210. Or did I misunderstand the comment, perhaps?
45% points back for Amazon btw as I’ve just found out, both volumes
(Second volume releasing on the 27th, so preorder ofc)
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I don’t think there is 50% coin back on volume 2. The promotion only applies to works published before 23rd Jan.
There is a “coin up” promotion on volume 2, but it’s a preorder bonus, and it’s only a small increase in coins to 88. The book isn’t published until 27th Feb.
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かえるくん、東京を救う (Super Frog saves Tokyo)
(one of the short stories in the short stories collection 神の子どもたちはみな踊る (After the earthquake) by Murakami Haruki)
Summary
One day, Katagiri, an ordinary bank employee, comes back home and find a giant frog making tea in his kitchen. According to them, they have a big mission to fulfill : save Tokyo from a huge earthquake.
Availability
It’s available for cheap in the short stories collection 神の子どもたちはみな踊る (After the earthquake) on
I’m reading it in another edition, where the short story is edited alone, but with a translation in english and various comments (it’s not an abreged edition, it’s just an edition of the short story alone).
It can be found on amazon, for example.
Personal Opinion
I’ve read two third of the short story, but I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s a reading both humoristic and with a lot of tension. The situation is really absurd and yet we get totally caught by the urgency of saving Tokyo. The two characters, the bank employee and the giant frog, are both touching and hilarious, each differently.
I may add that I’m a total fangirl of Murakami Haruki, and I love his style as well as his stories. But before this short story, I had never read him in japanese.
About the level
I’m a beginner in japanese (normally going along with the ABBC), but this short story is totally readable for me. It’s rated level 18 (with “??”) on Learn Natively.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A masterpiece from a great japanese author.
- A lot of dialogues.
- There are patterns in the text, because there is some repetition humour.
Cons
- No furigana
Do I have to add a poll here ?
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No, this has been removed. The template bears updating. If it isn’t done (and I don’t forget) by this evening, US mountain time, I’ll update it!
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I was trying to decide between getting volume 2 in physical or digital (I have both for volume 1) but this is such a good deal that it would be silly not to get. The digital quality for this series is excellent after all!
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The template has been updated for a few days, but I don’t think @macalys used the template.
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