Super Doctor K Vol.1 Ch.2-3 (A 2-chapter series, the volume has 7 chapters)
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)
かがみの孤城 (下) 18% => 23% (first 1/3 of February)
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.
Interesting vocabularies
ガレキ = debris. Kanji form is 瓦礫 = tiles (瓦) + pebbles (礫).
手抜き = omitting important steps. This vocab, and the one just above, you can guess.
脱脂綿 = absorbent cotton. It is 木綿, but it can absorb more than fat (脂肪), though.
入り組む = to get complicated
ひん曲がる = to be very bent
鋭利 = being sharp (鋭い), of a knife too.
支える = to be able to support, also heavy objects, such as a large ガレキ.
賠償 = compensations, e.g. money fee
分岐 = divergence
平行 = parallel, like of lines. In contrast with the vocabulary mentioned yesterday, 並行 = at the same time / keeping pace with.
同窓会 = class reunion. 窓 also has a meaning of a room, therefore 学窓, 同窓.
恥じる = to feel ashamed / to feel guilty. Verb version of 恥.
瞬く = to blink, but faster and more repeatedly than 瞬く
ややあって = after a while. 稍 = a little bit.
帯びる = to have an air of. Also, to be entrusted with / to carry a sword.
大雑把 = rough, like a rule of thumb
くくる = to summarize. Kanji form is 括る.
Phrases
下敷きになる = to become like a sheet (下敷き), by a large ガレキ. Otherwise, say, being under something (下), and being laid flat (敷く).
できっこない = can never be able to do. The key is the suffix っこない = …するはずがない，の意を表す。
棒立ちになる = to stand upright
上ずった声 = high pitch voice. The verb is 上ずる.
腑に落ちる = to be convinced. 腑 is from 臓腑 or 五臓六腑. Perhaps a Kanji worth readable as a standalone as well.
説明がつく = to explain adequately
Forgotten ones
バイキン = germs. Nothing related to バイキング (buffet). Kanji form is 黴菌, so just remember the sound first, I guess. (The second Kanji 菌 has a value of remembering reading too, I guess.)
精密 = precise.
辻褄が合う = to be consistent. The opposite can also be found, meaning = to be inconsistent.
控えめに = modestly. Yomichan hovering over 控え目に gives slightly different results.
切実 = urgent / desperate
Good Kanji
勉
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.
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！
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.
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.
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 vol 5 pg 1 → 85, i don’t remember which chapters these correspond to because they aren’t actually numbered
NHK News Web Easy: 岡山城の天守閣を10万円で借りて忘年会を開く - HAHA found some time to do an article anyway! I’d actually forgotten about the construction, I remember reading about it in a tadoku graded reader I think… but I guess it’s done!
Good Words
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)
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”.
Didn’t do a whole lot of reading today either, just finished up the ブルーロック chapter I was on which was a good time as always! I’m facing the end of the semester so reading time is a bit hit or miss, but soon I’ll have so much time
I read most of the ユージニア assignment today, and my Advent Challenge reading. I’m super worn out though, so even with only 7 pages left in my book club chapter I’m calling it quits for today.
Horrible. Just dreadful. Lots of backsliding with both reading and sleeping… I would really like to not lose the reading pace I’d managed to set for myself the last few months…
Word of the Day: 反芻 - literally chewing the cud but more pondering and rumination. Another word with an almost identical phrase in English.
I wanted to read the whole book but didn’t quite get there. I kept getting distracted by a cat that kept trying to attack the book I guess pretty much everyone wants to hit Ghiaccho lmao
叙述トリック短編集 , 37-48% 体育館の殺人, 63-77% (on the 10th, will read more today)
These days I’ve been reading my advent book and listening/reading 体育館の殺人. I’ve stopped at the challenge to the reader part, and went through some tedious details in an effort to spot the culprit. I’m really not all that invested, but it wasn’t a particularly engrossing book, so I wanted to at least try and get the enjoyment of solving the puzzle out of it. The author says that the solution is entirely logical and not to look for vague concepts such as motive and gut instinct, but I still did that for the most part. I haven’t gone through all the details because tedious, but I’ll record my guess here (I’m ahead, so I don’t want to have it in the book club yet and tempt other readers) so I can come back and see how I did. Then I’ll continue reading/listening and will update the percentages accordingly.
Caution! Speculation on 体育館の殺人's ending here. Only read after you've finished the book!
I think the culprit is Masaki. For one, I don’t like him, neither does Urazome. He has that perfect image that just can’t be true. And he has much to lose if he’s caught red-handed on video for whatever it was he did. He also has no real alibi, but placed himself near the crime scene. I think he was let in by the victim, killed him, then went upstairs to possibly check that the DVD was correct, and maybe also call Yatsuhashi as a half alibi. Then went downstairs, took shoes and umbrella, realized someone had been there and was behind the door, so locked the door, went out the other door towards the toilets, left the umbrella there, then crawled under the tarpaulin of the trailer that was stuck in the door, and was pushed out by the club members. After he was left alone he went back in through the corridor as if he had just arrived. Later he had Yatsuhashi and co take the papers from the room he was supposed to be in, blurring any evidence on the work he supposedly did there.
Edit: Finished 体育館の殺人! And I did get the pleasure of solving the mystery, but I really didn’t like the book. It could have been a short story, but it dragged on and on and on, overexplaining and repeating stuff and padding with unnecessary detail, while having no feeling, no three-dimensional characters to like or dislike. A straightforward logic puzzle shouldn’t have been 379 pages long, surely.
茫然「ぼうぜん」ー Dumbfounded; overcome with surprise (also: 呆然) 大死一番「だいしいちばん」ー Giving yourself completely to something; being prepared to die for something if necessary
Actually, I tried Age of Empires II (2013) too, look at story mode (around 30 campaigns), but pace (real-time strategy), along with game mechanics, make it too much for me to handle.
About うたわれるもの, it is indeed the first of the trilogy, but they are something I can take time with.
表沙汰 = exposure to public view. Last two Kanji are from ご無沙汰, where 沙汰 meaning written news.
前途 = future prospects, as in 前途ある
往診 = doctor’s visit for 診察
経過 = course of an event
点検 = inspection
吸盤 = a sucking disk. Well, sucking plate (盤) of a monitoring machine.
はなから = from the start. Kanji form is 端から.
根治 = complete cure
苦悶 = agony
大づめ = the last scene / finale. Full Kanji form is 大詰め.
ハッスル = show hustle; put some hustle into (one’s work)
SFX
がっつく = to devour greedily. From がつがつ.
ぶらつく = to wander. From ぶらぶら.
ずしり = heavily. Also, ずっしり(重い).
Phrases
気が引ける = to feel awkward
息の合った = in good coordination
寸分違わぬ = identical / not different at all. Also, 寸分違わず. From 寸分 but + 違う, also seen in 仲違い.
一心不乱 = wholeheartedly
耳を貸す = to listen / to try to listen
頭が上がらない = to be no match for. Like 敵わない, perhaps.
曰く付き = with an interesting history. I have seen 曰く before, so no problem for me, but weirdly similar to 日.
申し分ない = no objection. Base vocabulary is 申し分, and there might be の.
息を吹き返す = to come back to life
Forgotten ones
運搬 = transportation
催促 = demanding
荒事 = (theatrical) fighting scene
窪み = a depression / a socket. Verb form is 窪む. 窪 is a vocabulary on its own as well. I would need to keep up with the Kanji, but an alternate Kanji is 凹む / 凹む.
物騒 = disturbed
容態 = state of health. I keep forgetting this one. Also with Rendaku.
からかい上手の高木さん vol 5, 85 → 152 (end) - really cute volume. It’s starting to break out of its [one chapter : one gag] formula a bit which is nice.
NHK News Web Easy: 法隆寺 仏像の1年のほこりを落とす「お身拭い」- i think it is the religious/cultural ones that really trip me up. Lots of new/specific words. I think I have a vague memory of reading something about this in one of my religion classes… but man it’s been a hot minute
Good Words
高木さん
交換「こうかん」ー exchange, switching
てっきり ー surely, without doubt
統べる「すべる」ー to rule over, to command
風向き「かぜむき」ー wind direction (both physical and allegorical)
恐怖「きょうふ」ー fear, terror
星座占い「せいざうらない」ー sun sign astrology
NHK
世界遺産「せかいいさん」ー world heritage site
お坊さん「おぼうさん」ー buddhist priest, monk
ほこり ー dust
丁寧「ていねい」ー polite, civil
Just noticed that my Anki deck surpassed 1,000 JP-JP cards . It’s been a slow build-up since I started it around… summer I think? It was somewhat intimidating and very slow at first, barely added anything in the beginning, but right now I feel the complete opposite. I increased very slowly and gradually the cards I added overtime, and now It’s absolutely fine and I feel very comfortable with it to the point that I won’t use bilingual SRS anymore (haven’t for a while anyway…). I still have a loooong way to go regarding vocabulary, I still feel I have gaps that I “shouldn’t” for very common words, but the more I used monolingual dictionaries, the easier it’s been adapting to them. There are still definitions that are way over my level and I tend not to add those, but I’ve grown much more permissive with definitions that, even if I don’t understand a word or two, I still understand what they’re describing, so I add them in that case. I expect the deck to grow much faster now that I’m being very consistent.
It’s also weird but I think I’m realising that I work much better with a heavier workload than a softer one, also judging from previous experience (WK and before). I’m getting the feeling that I’m being much more effective now in comparison with the 20 cards a day than the 10 of before, like I’m getting out more from those 20 cards everyday and then the next and so on, than 20 cards in two days, etc, while theoretically it should be the same progress just slower. The higher pace feels a bit better somehow. It might just be that I’m more motivated right now, perhaps, I don’t know. But I’ve certainly felt an increase in effectiveness these last couple of weeks (which surprise surprise, it coincides with the healthier sleeping schedule and the exercising ). Regardless of all that, though, having a higher workload makes my brain handle a lot more items and think of the language much more, but still in a way that is manageable, and most importantly in a way that lets me see significant progress in a reasonable time, which seems to motivate me a fair bit. I suppose I’m starting to learn that a slow pace is not necessarily the best plan for me sometimes. I was feeling a bit disappointed with the pace I had been learning this last year or half a year and wanted to take things faster again. I’m pretty happy that I’m able to do it now, happy that my brain is responding surprisingly well despite not being at its best at the moment.
Ironically I’m late for bed today . I wanted to leave this out there as catharsis and to celebrate all these little insight moments you get every once in a while in this painful wonderful language learning journey.
Japanese found under the leaves 
12月10日
. Still I didn’t know about it so thanks for introducing it.
.
December 10th 
I guess pretty much everyone wants to hit Ghiaccho lmao
. It’s been a slow build-up since I started it around… summer I think? It was somewhat intimidating and very slow at first, barely added anything in the beginning, but right now I feel the complete opposite. I increased very slowly and gradually the cards I added overtime, and now It’s absolutely fine and I feel very comfortable with it to the point that I won’t use bilingual SRS anymore (haven’t for a while anyway…). I still have a loooong way to go regarding vocabulary, I still feel I have gaps that I “shouldn’t” for very common words, but the more I used monolingual dictionaries, the easier it’s been adapting to them. There are still definitions that are way over my level and I tend not to add those, but I’ve grown much more permissive with definitions that, even if I don’t understand a word or two, I still understand what they’re describing, so I add them in that case. I expect the deck to grow much faster now that I’m being very consistent.
). Regardless of all that, though, having a higher workload makes my brain handle a lot more items and think of the language much more, but still in a way that is manageable, and most importantly in a way that lets me see significant progress in a reasonable time, which seems to motivate me a fair bit. I suppose I’m starting to learn that a slow pace is not necessarily the best plan for me sometimes. I was feeling a bit disappointed with the pace I had been learning this last year or half a year and wanted to take things faster again. I’m pretty happy that I’m able to do it now, happy that my brain is responding surprisingly well despite not being at its best at the moment.