Home
December 8
人間椅子 -
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険54
146 - 160
Almost forgot to update
Oh for sure! I’m not toooo worried about these being too difficult to follow at my level (especially ones with the benefit of a book club), more just looking for a way to get my eyes used to reading more dense text without panicking a bit
Ah! I forgot about 魔女の宅急便 and 時をかける少女, I’ve seen movies of both of them and enjoyed them quite a bit (pacing issues in the later aside). I think I’d also added the 小川未明 collection to my wish-list after reading one here. I will check out the rest of these, though, thank you!
9/12 3 pages おばちゃんたちのいるところ, 6 pages 夜カフェ, 6 pages Spy Family
Started tomorrow’s reading for Spy Family, otherwise trying to catch up with the other two.
December 9th
Card Captor Sakura volume 2 or Aria: the masterpiece volume 2 – progress report
Yesterday: Read up to page 208 of Aria: the masterpiece volume 2.
Today: Read up to page 230, finished chapter 16.
Coincidentally, I experienced this winter’s first snow today too, huh.
All in all a cozy chapter and quite fitting for the winter season. The following two pages in particular were memorable for me…in more ways than one.
What a calm and entrancing scene, watching Akari, Alicia and president Aria being surrounded by all thos-- hEY, liSTEn!! HeY, LIstEn! HEy, lISteN!! HEY LISTEN!!
me: Shut up, Navi!
Good grief, while the panel was pleasant to look at, I immediately heard Navi’s annoying voice x30 in my mind because those winter bugs basically look like her when floating around.
Word or expression of the day:
温々 - (ぬくぬく) - snugly, cosily; warmly
Honourable mention(s):
玄米茶 - ( げんまいちゃ) - tea (with roasted rice)
お洒落 - (おしゃれ) - smartly dressed, stylish, fashion-conscious
December 9th (Home Post Link)
Read:
Finished ch 22 in the hotel room at like 1am now is sleep time
NHK
専門家「せんもんか」ー expert, specialist
賞「しょう」ー prize, award
軽自動車「けいじどうしゃ」ー light vehicle, kei car
激しく「はげしく」ー violent, extreme (here, of 競争)
ホリミヤ
浮気「うわき」ー affair, infidelity
誤解 「ごかい」ー misunderstanding
理不尽「りふじん」ー unreasonable, outrageous
December 9th!
Today I read the next chapter of Happiness, and the next chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san.
Both were the penultimate chapters of the volume, so I’ll be finishing them both next week!
I planned to play some Pokemon today too, but the day kind of slipped away from me, and its already 10:30 somehow.
So I guess I’ll save it for tomorrow rather than trying to start while I’m already a little bit tired.
12月09日
うたわれるもの
Unrelated to reading, but surprisingly studying a couple prefectures everyday has rapidly become one of the highlights of my Japanese study that I look forward to the most. I only have half of Shikoku left and then it’s only Kyushu. Some of the flags are really cool, like Okayama’s which looks like the head of a mecha or something. I really like Shizuoka’s too.
After learning their locations I really want to learn a bit more about them, not super thoroughly yet but at least I’d like to have some partial knowledge about important cities, industries, cultural heritage, and so on. I’m not exactly sure where to learn about them in a way that doesn’t seem super daunting like straight reading Wikipedia, so if anyone has some suggestions (preferably in Japanese ) I kindly welcome them! Or to be fair I should probably just try to read Wikipedia at this point… but damn is it daunting.
Dec 9
・ 封印再度 (0% → 4%)
I read Saikawa & Moe vol. 5, nyehe that’s a win. Week two starts tomorrow (past midnight now, so technically later today), will try not to fall behind. I said I joined Hataraku Saibou book club, but I still haven’t started properly. I feel guilty for not keeping up to date, even Loopers book club I completely fell off in September or something ahhh. Can I handle Honzuki, S&M (nyehe) and Saibou at the same time? Let’s find out! oh, and I got a bit of studying done today too so yay! I’ll be responsible and go to sleep now
Yay thanks! 頑張る~!
December 9
人間椅子 -
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険54
161 - 192 (end)
Almost forgot to update. Fell asleep earlier than I expected. I’m hoping to read all the next volume today though
I reached last year’s stopping point in 黄金仮面 and can happily report that while I’m still missing a little bit here and there* I’m keeping up with the story and feel in no way lost! Very exciting. I’ll probably read more of it tonight because I’m on a roll. 江戸川乱歩 is just such a delight to read
*it’s worth noting again that I’m reading this in paperback with an audiobook, not stopping for lookups. If I don’t know a word, whelp, embrace ambiguity and hope context sorts me out.
I’d like to have some partial knowledge about important cities, industries, cultural heritage, and so on. I’m not exactly sure where to learn about them in a way that doesn’t seem super daunting like straight reading Wikipedia, so if anyone has some suggestions (preferably in Japanese ) I kindly welcome them!
Welcome to 都道府県のおはなし 低学年 - Stories of the Japanese Prefectures (Lower Grade Reader) We read this book as part of the Absolute Beginner Book Club between May and August 2022. You are still welcome to read along on your own, and hopefully you find the discussion threads and the vocab sheet we created helpful. This book was only available as a physical book. You can try reading the introductory chapter in our prereading thread, where we broke down all the first chapter in detail. Link [61…
Might be too easy for you, but at least won’t be too hard! I imagine there are other books aimed at kids which are similar.
Today I just read 1 chapter of 君に届け, finishing vol 2.
目ざわり [noun, な-adj.] eyesore; unpleasant sight
和解 (わかい) [noun, の-adj., する verb (自)] reconciliation
Day 30 Progress:
お隣の天使様 四冊 - 15.30% → 16.75%
Extremely nominal reading day today but I’ve decided to go to bed “early” for once.
Word of the Day: 玄室 - burial chamber. Another word unrelated to my reading today but I just find it funny that a place with such mystery and gravity as ‘burial chamber’ is simply ‘mysterious room’ in Japanese. Not the most bone-chilling word for sure.
December 9 Home Post
Another day where I ended up doing other things and so didn’t start reading until late, so I just read a few pages of ブルーロック and now I’m very sleepy so I’m going to bed
December 10th
Card Captor Sakura volume 2 or Aria: the masterpiece volume 2 – progress report
Yesterday: Read up to page 230, finished chapter 16.
Today: Read up to page 263, finished chapter 17.
Today’s reading session was a bit frustrating (due to a few pages worth of explanations about the hot spring, including those 9 types of hot springs) but also amusing.
I mean, based on this chapter, the front cover illustration of the 2nd volume showing Alicia may have been more accurate if she was drinking loads of beer instead of a cup of tea given how much she drank in one day.
The chapter’s highlight that made me crack up, tough, was this one panel:
I suppose all the alcohol that Alicia had drunk before caused her arm to turn into jelly or something.
Word or expression of the day:
罪悪感 - (ざいあくかん) - feelings of guilt
Honourable mention(s):
講座 - (こうざ) - course (e.g. of lectures), lectureship
Dec 10, Sat of Week 11 of Fall 2022
Good thing protag didn’t die immediately at the second chapter of the whole series.
Next chapter also features villains. (Also another 2-chapter series)
Along with 1.2x audio, but I can collect vocabularies with Kanji, and Furigana only sometimes.
More knowing of what really happened, and the castle is closing.
Phrases
Forgotten ones
There is only one vocabulary (and another variant) for this Kanji in Wanikani, even if it is a Level 12 Kanji. Sound like 晩, but studying at night with exertion, I guess.
Making up for (償う)
Not only windows, but also rooms bearing windows
Entrails
20221210 - 吾輩は狸である progress: 92.25%
Conversation?
Conversation.
Japanese found under the leaves
巾着「きんちゃく」ー Drawstring purse
謹聴「きんちょう」ー Listening attentively
so if anyone has some suggestions (preferably in Japanese )
There’s always the prefecture section on Hukumusume
It has the prefecture symbols/flags along with the prefecture animals, trees, flowers and such things, think there’s info on some of the festivals and such but can’t remember. But there’s links to the folklore of each prefecture.
Not sure if it’ll be super helpful for you though if you’re looking for more of the physical aspects like the cities/industries you mentioned (though there is some basic info like this on there). You can always type in the prefecture you’re interested in into google (in Japanese!) and most prefectures have a portal/hub kind of site which lists all sorts of things.
Like here’s the one for Chiba prefecture
(these are a bit awkward to navigate if you’re just wanting general info though and are more of a place for local news and such, but there is a lot of info tucked away on these sites - but they are probably more daunting than Wiki)
If you’re wanting just the general info, Wiki is probably your best bet, 頑張って!
12月10日
うたわれるもの
[Stories of the Japanese Prefectures]
Might be too easy for you, but at least won’t be too hard! I imagine there are other books aimed at kids which are similar.
It looks nice! Unfortunately my local Japanese store doesn’t have it and ordering abroad just for that one book alone is probably overkill . Still I didn’t know about it so thanks for introducing it.
[Hukumusume]
It rang a bell that Hukumusume had something like this, I’ll probably give it a read sometime c:
Thanks for the other tips too. I’ll probably give the Wiki a try too but I kinda wanted to avoid super long articles with complex vocabulary. I don’t think I’m confident enough about reading an encyclopedia yet and not dying in the process .
I’m thinking I might give YouTube a try, I’m sure I’ll find something interesting in video format.
December 10th!
Today I read Chapter 19 of Orange. Its the final volume of the original story, and it’s definitely starting to feel like the end is approaching.
December 10th (Home Post Link)
I did manage to finish ch 22 of ホリミヤ before bed last night so I didn’t break my chapter streak! No NHK article today because I was out of internet for most of the day and then busy for the rest of the day, but my kindle did finally come in clutch. Nice to be able to read without too many lookups on the go. Still definitely prefer physical books, but it’s super nice for traveling. Definitely did fewer lookups than I normally would, but oh well. Still felt I understood preeeeety much everything going on
Read:
からかい上手の高木さん
見舞い 「みまい」ー visiting ill or distressed people, get-well gifts
案「あん」ー idea; plan
無心「むしん」ー free from obstructive thoughts (buddhism)
NHK
天守閣「てんしゅかく」ー castle tower
借りる「かりる」ー to rent (new usage to me, i’ve only ever seen borrow i think)
2022-12-11T01:33:00Z
Ohhh no, why do I feel like I remember Yano and Pin being love interests… This is a cute story, please don’t ruin it with teacher/student…
Read if you really want to know: After her two friends paired off, Yano started feeling lonely and latched onto Pin but Pin was never interested in her.
At least that’s how I remembered it.
Then I googled it and the wiki article says that Yano was actually in love and confessed but Pin rejected her as “too early”.