October 29
Home Post
Orange 
Read about half of this week’s chapter. Would have read it all if I had time, but I didn’t. Because I’m going to my friends for more cat socialization plus games.
Yesterday I didn’t end up reading unfortunately. Can’t really say why. Day got away from me, I guess.
I’m actually not sure when I last posted, am too tired to check, so these are the notes for the last few days!
25/10 3 pages 夜カフェ, 1 page Tugumi
26/10 3 pages 夜カフェ
27/10 2 pages 夜カフェ
28/10 1 page Tugumi
As you can see, not a lot of reading, and nothing today - I did actually open Tugumi but didn’t progress. The last few days have been hectic. 6 days at home post holiday, and one followed an overnight flight with minor sleep so really only 5. Worked essentially 2 11 hour shifts from home. Have prepped the house for house sitters for the next 4 weeks. Fly early tomorrow for 4 weeks work interstate. I’m exhausted. And kitty is going to be so confused…
I’ll probably read tomorrow a lot more as I’m travelling, but doubt I’ll be very awake! Luckily I’m not working Monday so have time to recuperate but also to read. I do enjoy my life but sometimes I think I should leave a little more slack.
Oct 28, Fri
Someone tempted me by reading ahead of the club by 1 day. (Mere 2 hours in my timezone, and just entering the new week in JST, actually.) So, I just have to read. It’s not so hard this week.
I spent too much time and attention to generating JP sub and cleaning them, otherwise.
Oct 29, Sat of Week 5 of Fall 2022
One section, probably around 20 minutes. I read to the section mark, without much strain.
Tried listening to songs while reading, and reading ability dropped.
The true nature of お披露目 is now shown.
The most difficult of the day so far. The comedic nature keeps the reading going.
Home
October 29
ニャンキーズ 2
126 - 157 (end)
Yeah I don’t think I’m missing out on anything by not continuing this series. At the end of this vol, we got a weed/catnip cat and he’s got dark skin, an afro, big lips, and American style… so a black weed cat. Oh and he’s set up as part of the newest villain group.
Hopefully the next thing will be better. Instead of going straight back to JoJo, I’m planning on reading a story about a human chair as a special Halloween book club
20221029 - 吾輩は狸である progress: 64.53% 
Only time for a short read today!
But long enough for ancient Greece to be mentioned in conversation (again).
Japanese found under the leaves
燃殻「もえがら」ー Embers; cinders (also: 燃え殻)
騒々しい「そうぞうしい」ー Noisy; boisterous; loud
Forms
蒼 ＝ 青「あお」(Blue)
Home post
I will join in on the challenge starting November 1st and try to read every single day until the 30th.
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| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | |
| 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Dec | ||||||
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| 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | |||
| 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
What I plan on reading:
While I read NHK easy newspaper articles and other short texts when I was (still) going to Japanese classes, I’ve never read a whole manga or book in Japanese before. Therefore, this will be baby’s first steps territory for me.
The main book I’ll be reading is Aria: The masterpiece volume 1 and I plan on making use of the corresponding book club post and the vocab list to make things easier for me. I’d like to finish the first volume in November, so let’s see how far I’ll get.
Side note: I won’t have access to Aria – or rather I don’t fancy carrying around half a kilogram worth of books with my luggage – for 3 days because of a short work-related trip abroad. During these days I’ll switch to some screenshots from pages out of ‘Learn to Read in Japanese’ by R. Lake and N. Ura instead.
Next up, I’d like to thank @windupbird and @Redglare for coming up with and hosting this challenge and I want to add that your posts, @windupbird, have been the highlight of this month’s reading challenge for me. It’s quite delightful to witness the sheer amount of enthusiasm you have for the books you’ve been reading. 
The only thing left to do, is to pull an Oprah and try and give out as many likes as I can because everyone participating deserves it. It’s not easy to read and understand non-native material and the effort that got you this far is not to be underestimated after all!
Edit:
In accordance to what I said in my post on the 20th of November, I will alternate between reading Aria: the masterpiece and Card Captor Sakura from now on.
Progress overview
Aria: the masterpiece volume 1
November 5th: finished chapter 1
November 6th: finished chapter 2
November 8th: finished chapter 3
November 12th: finished chapter 4
November 13th: finished chapter 5
November 16th: finished chapter 6
November 17th: finished chapter 7
November 19th: finished chapter 8
November 20th: finished chapter 9
November 20th: finished volume 1
Aria: the masterpiece volume 2
November 27th: finished chapter 10
November 28th: finished chapter 11
December 3rd: finished chapter 12
December 4th: finished chapter 13
December 5th: finished chapter 14
December 7th: finished chapter 15
December 9th: finished chapter 16
December 10th: finished chapter 17
December 11th: finished chapter 17.5
December 14th: finished chapter 18
December 15th: finished chapter 19
December 16th: finished chapter 20
December 16th: finished volume 2
Card Captor Sakura volume 1
November 23rd: finished chapter 1
November 25th: finished chapter 2
November 27th: finished chapter 3
November 30th: finished chapter 4
December 2nd: finished chapter 5
December 2nd: finished volume 1
Card Captor Sakura volume 2
December 17th: finished chapter 6
December 18th: finished chapter 7
December 20th: finished chapter 8 and chapter 9
December 22nd: finished chapter 10
December 22nd: finished volume 2
Card Captor Sakura volume 3
December 24th: finished chapter 11
December 24th: finished chapter 12
December 25th: finished chapter 13
December 26th: finished chapter 14
December 26th: finished volume 3
Card Captor Sakura volume 4
December 28th: finished chapter 15
December 29th: finished chapter 16
December 30th: finished chapter 17
December 31st: finished chapter 18
December 31st: finished volume 4
To sum up, I read every single day and finished a total of 8 manga volumes in 2 months. 
Day 29, 29th of October
I’ve finally started to read Kiki’s Delivery Service 魔女の宅急便 ! I recently got it as a birthday gift and it’s definitively above my level, but I’m just so excited to sit down and puzzle out everything.
Today I read the blurbs at the back and in the inside sleeve of the book. I think I’ll also try and read the dedication and the chapter titles.
Two big difficulties are awaiting me: only some Kanji have furigana, and it’s written from top to bottom, which slows my reading down significantly. I suppose with my current level it doesn’t really make a difference.
October 29th!
A good day of reading today. I finished 耳をすませば with the BBC, and also finished Mitsuboshi Colors Volume 5 with the Offshoot club.
Finishing a book always feels good, so finishing two feels great 
Home post 
Oct 29
・狼と香辛料 (83% → 100%)
Finished the book! :3 Was a bit challenging at times (economy stuffs), but went okay.
So now that I’ve finished both of the books I aimed to complete this month, I’m considering picking up Loopers again. Currently 7 weeks behind book club schedule.
Day 28:
Priority: 
. As long as I’m reading something, for right now I’m okay missing this goal.
Free choice: 
硝子の塔の殺人. Probably about 1/3 through.
Extra: 
デスノート 1. Looking forward to being done with this… Maybe I’ll push on it tomorrow for the stretch goal.
Snatches of: 
ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団.
Mandarin?!: 
伯爵与妖精 1.
I was considering this, though I need to catch up with all my book clubs too!
Given it’s free, I’ll probably take a look tomorrow and see how I go.
October 29 home post link🏡
It’s my first time listening to this podcast (nihongo switch), I like it! Today, I listened to this podcast and followed along with the transcript. I learned about the 3 question particles mentioned above too.
October 29 Home Post
More ブルーロック as usual! Lots of fun character interactions today, good times (and drama) all around 
(I’ve also officially ordered most of the rest of the volumes 
soccer chaos continues)
October 29 
おばちゃんたちのいるところ , start-7%
Yesterday I read all of this week’s portion of おばちゃんたちのいるところ for the IBC. I found it enjoyable and quite different from what I’ve read so far. I’m thinking I may continue and see if I can finish the story today (I wouldn’t like to leave a short story hanging for a whole week), then have tomorrow free for 人間椅子 
October 29th (Home Post Link)
Got a little too 
last night, and was busy all day today, so didn’t get a chance to sit down and start reading until like 10pm. Was a struggle to focus but I managed to do a bit.
Read よつばと！chapters 95, 96, and 97, finishing volume 14. Just one more to go!
恐ろしい「おそろしい」ー terrible, dreadful, frightening
葉っぱ「はっぱ」ー leaf
幼児「ようじ」ー toddler, child
見識「けんしき」ー pride, self-respect
役割「やくわり」ー part, duties
滅ぼす「ほろぼす」ー to destroy, to ruin
一応「いちおう」ー more or less
前菜「ぜんざい」ー appetizer, starter
高速「こうそく」ー freeway
渋滞「じゅうたい」ー traffic jam, congestion
Friend also gave me this really cute jigglypuff notebook while I was up for their party! I think I’ll use this for when the new pokemon games come out, since I was planning to try playing them in japanese.
This comment has me intrigued.
I read ahead of the club in late august and got to somewhere in chapter 30 I think, but decided to stop and catch up with my other books and wait for the club. I’ve just started reading again from the start of volume 3 with the club, and I’m now near the end of chapter 28 again, so I should finish chapter 30 next week!
As I thought, reading went better today, despite marked lack of sleep (about 4 hours).
30/10 26 pages シャドーハウス (all this week’s reading), 2 pages Tugumi (to end chapter 11), 夜カフェ - 4 pages (to end chapter 10) then 1 page chapter 11, 22 pages 耳をすませば (finished book)
So I’ve finished the current BBC book with the club, and am up to date with シャドーハウス.
Tomorrow I’ll try to focus on Tugumi - I figured I needed more sleep with that. I skim read half of the current シャドーハウス volume a couple of months ago so it’s not too challenging, though I’m still having to look up a lot more vocab. Story is taking another interesting turn.
I have the day off tomorrow so I’ll also try to progress with Spy Family and 夜カフェ plus maybe orange. Too many books!
So I am very much a beginner in learning Japanese. I started studying last year. Sadly I ended up having health complications and it was my last year of undergrad while completing a BA and a BS. Because of that I pretty much completely stopped my studying. I have finished my degrees and found a job and now I am starting up again. I’m about halfway through the first level here on wanikani and am using Duolingo and Lingodeer to further study. I really feel like learning to read in Japanese will greatly help build my language skills, but I am aware at my level most of my reading will probably be in the language learning apps. If anyone has a suggestion for complete beginner reading books in Japanese I would be willing to attempt those to supplement what I am doing in the apps. I understand those would likely be childrens books and am fine with that.
I am really excited to find this challenge! Seeing what others are reading and enjoying will be further encouragement to study consistently so I can read things that are more fun and interesting to me. I am starting the challenge on October 30th, but I’m sure I’ll want to keep up with it for future challenges also.
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| 31 |
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| 28 | 29 | 30 | ||||
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October 30th (Home Post Link)
Woke up stupidly early today and figured I’d get some reading done in the morning: よつばと！chapters 98, 99, 100. Will do more later, but I almost want to savor these last few chapters. Feels almost surreal to think I won’t have more new よつば shenanigans to read every day (but I suppose in the words of one of my friends: “one could always read it again”). Debating whether I should do the extra chapters that haven’t been released in a volume yet or whether I want to save those for a rainy day before moving on to the next series for the challenge.
挑戦「ちょうせん」ー challenge, try
誠に「まことに」ー really
健康「けんこう」ー health
はちみつ ー honey
孤独「こどく」ー solitude
お出かけ 「おでかけ」ー just about to start, just about to leave
すべすべ ー smooth
メノウ ー agate
ヒスイ ー jade
透明 「どうめい」ー clear, transparent
I think quite a few people here have used Natively to find stuff that’s level appropriate. I did a lot of the Tadoku - Free Graded Readers when I was first trying to start reading and those were really nice. Felt extremely good to try reading something and be able understand it at all. Welcome to the challenge and happy reading!
